Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench
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Authority
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
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Family
Poaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Coarse, maize-like annual with broad lvs mostly (2–)3–5 cm wide; panicle 1.5–5 dm, its main axis usually ± hairy; pedicellate spikelet mostly shorter than the sessile one, which is spread open by the very turgid grain at maturity; 2n=20. Originally African, now widely cult. in numerous and diverse cultivars. Three interfertile vars. are recognized. Cult. plants with large grains and usually dense, non-disarticulating inflorescences are var. bicolor. Weedy and tall shattercanes and Sudan-grass are var. drummondii (Nees) Mohlenbr. They often occur in sorghum-fields, mature early, and have fragile racemes that readily fragment. The native wild African plants, which form a third var., are ancestors of the cultivars.
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Common Names
sorghum, milo, Sudan-grass