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Poaceae family

Caribbean Bristlegrass Setaria utowanaea

Native

Caribbean Bristlegrass is a perennial grass native to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Perennial
In the garden
Herb layer — Sits in the herb of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~10 caterpillar species

Setaria supports ~10 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a moderate genus for introduced plants — native genera typically support far more.

Recorded feeding on Setaria in North America, including:

Ancyloxypha numitor · Least Skipper Faronta albilinea · owlet moth Faronta diffusa · owlet moth Helicoverpa zea · Corn Earworm Hydraecia immanis · Hop Vine Borer Moth Hypena scabra · Black Snout
+ 6 more species →
Mesapamea stipata · owlet moth Ostrinia nubilalis · snout moth Papaipema nebris · Stalk Borer Pseudaletia unipuncta · White-Speck Spodoptera frugiperda · Fall Armyworm Moth Spodoptera praefica · Western Yellowstriped Armyworm
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
Wildlife & visitors 1 bird

Open records of who else uses Caribbean Bristlegrass — a generalist food-web signal, kept separate from the keystone Ecological Value.

Recorded eaten by 1 bird species (fruit, seed, browse):

Columbina passerina · Common Ground Dove
Interaction records (observations, not exhaustive) from GloBI → (CC0). Counts are distinct species; names are the most-recorded. Common names from Wikidata (CC0).
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (9) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[07] Wildlife & visitors — GloBI — Global Biotic Interactions (CC0)
[08] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[09] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
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