Sorghum almum

• Common Names
• Description
• Biology
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Common Names

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Description

Family Poaceae

Annual or perennial herbs, or tall woody bamboos . Flowering stems (culms ) jointed , internodes hollow or solid; branches arising singly from nodes and subtended by a leaf sheath and 2-keeled prophyll, often fascicled in bamboos. Leaves arranged alternately in 2 ranks , differentiated into sheath, blade , and an adaxial erect appendage at sheath/blade junction (ligule) ; leaf sheath surrounding and supporting culm-internode, split to base or infrequently tubular with partially or completely fused margins , modified with reduced blade in bamboos (culm sheaths) ; leaf blades divergent, usually long, narrow and flat, but varying from inrolled and filiform to ovate , veins parallel, sometimes with cross-connecting veinlets (especially in bamboos) ; ligule membranous or a line of hairs . Inflorescence terminal or axillary , an open, contracted , or spikelike panicle, or composed of lax to spikelike racemes arranged along an elongate central axis, or digitate, paired , or occasionally solitary; axillary inflorescences often many, subtended by spatheoles (specialized bladeless leaf sheaths) and gathered into a leafy compound panicle; spikelets often aggregated into complex clusters in bamboos. Spikelets composed of distichous bracts arranged along a slender axis (rachilla) ; typically 2 lowest bracts (glumes ) empty, subtending 1 to many florets ; glumes often poorly differentiated from accompanying bracts in bamboos. Florets composed of 2 opposing bracts enclosing a single small flower, outer bract (lemma) clasping the more delicate, usually 2-keeled inner bract (palea) ; base of floret often with thickened prolongation articulated with rachilla (callus) ; lemma often with apical or dorsal bristle (awn ), glumes also sometimes awned . Flowers bisexual or unisexual ; lodicules (small scales representing perianth) 2, rarely 3 or absent, 3 to many in bamboos, hyaline or fleshy ; stamens 3 rarely 1, 2, 6, or more in some bamboos, hypogynous, filaments capillary , anthers versatile; ovary 1-celled, styles (1 or) 2(rarely 3), free or united at base, topped by feathery stigmas, exserted from sides or apex of floret. Fruit normally a dry indehiscent caryopsis with thin pericarp firmly adherent to seed, pericarp rarely free, fleshy in some bamboos; embryo small or large; hilum punctate to linear .

About 700 genera and 11,000 species: widely distributed in all regions of the world.[1]

Genus Sorghum

Perennial or annual , with or without rhizomes. Culms usually robust , erect . Leaf blades linear to linear-lanceolate; ligule a ciliate membrane . Inflorescence a large terminal panicle with elongate central axis; primary branches simple or branched, bearing short dense racemes of paired spikelets ; racemes fragile (tough in cultivated species) ; rachis internodes and pedicels slender, ciliate. Sessile spikelet dorsally compressed ; callus obtuse , bearded , inserted into internode apex; lower glume usually leathery, shallowly convex , rounded on flanks, becoming 2-keeled and winged upward, usually hairy , apex membranous; upper glume boat-shaped, keeled upward; lower floret reduced to an empty hyaline lemma; upper lemma 2-toothed, awned from sinus or infrequently awnless; awn bigeniculate, glabrous . Lodicules ciliate. Pedicelled spikelet well developed or reduced to a glume, usually much narrower than sessile spikelet, awnless.

About 30 species: tropics and subtropics of the Old World, one species endemic to Mexico, otherwise introduced in America; five species (three introduced) in China.

The genus includes species of agricultural importance, including the tropical cereal sorghum, and several species grown for forage .[2]

Physical Description

Habitat

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 2,749 meters (0 to 9,019 feet).[3]

Biology

Reproduction

Duration: Annual

Growth

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full sun to partial shade.

Taxonomy

Unambiguous Synonyms

1. Sorghum Almum
2. Sorghum x almum Parodi (Pro Sp.), 1943

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 17-Oct-2001

Place of publication : Revista Argent. Agron. 10:361. 1943

Name verified on 02-Dec-1993 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 10-Nov-2005

Similar Species

Members of the genus Sorghum

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 248 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus. Here are just 100 of them:

S. abyssinicum · S. album · S. almum (Sorghum Almum Sorghum Almum) · S. amplum · S. andropogon (Sorghum) · S. angustum · S. ankolib · S. annuum · S. anomalum · S. arctatum · S. arduini · S. arenarium · S. arundinaceum · S. asperum · S. aterrimum · S. australiense · S. avenaceum · S. balansae · S. barbatum · S. basutorum · S. bicolor · S. bicolor (L.) Moench 'Korall' · S. bicolor (L.) Moench 'Sorgho molopo' · S. bicolor (L.) Moench ssp. bicolor 'Bicolor' · S. bicolor (L.) Moench ssp. bicolor 'Caudatum' · S. bicolor (L.) Moench 'SV 2' · S. bicolor (L.) Moench 'Tecnicum' · S. bicolor (L.) Moench var. dochna (Forssk.) Snowden · S. bicolor bicolor (Egyptian Grain Sorghum) · S. bicolor 'Colored Uprights' (Shattercane) · S. bicolor drummondii (Chicken Corn (As S Drummondii)) · S. bicolor 'Great Scott' · S. bicolor 'Green Graze Bmr' · S. bicolor 'Honey Sweet Hay' · S. bicolor 'Mennonite' (Sorghum) · S. bicolor nervosum var. dochna · S. bicolor 'Piper' · S. bicolor 'Preferred Stock' · S. bicolor 'Premium Stock' · S. bicolor 'Premium Stock Ls' · S. bicolor 'Red's Red Sweet' (Sorghum) · S. bicolor 'Rsk1' · S. bicolor 'Scott 400' · S. bicolor 'Scott 480w' · S. bicolor 'Scott 500' · S. bicolor 'Ss Silage' · S. bicolor 'Sugar Cube' · S. bicolor 'Sweet-N-Sterile' · S. bicolor 'Texas Black' (Shattercane) · S. bicolor 'Trudan' · S. bicolor var. arduini · S. bicolor var. cernuum · S. bicolor var. obovatum · S. bicolor var. saccharatum · S. bicolor var. subglabrescens · S. bicolor 'White African' (Shattercane) · S. bicolor 'White Broom Corn' (White Broom Corn) · S. bicorne · S. bipennatum · S. bourgaei · S. brachypodum · S. brachystachyum · S. bracteatum · S. brevicallosum · S. brevicarinatum · S. brevifolium · S. bulbosum · S. burmahicum · S. cabanisii · S. caffrorum · S. caffrorum var. bicarinatum · S. campanum · S. camporum · S. canescens · S. capense · S. capillare · S. carinatum · S. castaneum · S. caucasicum · S. caudatum (West African Grain Sorghum) · S. centroplicatum · S. cernuum · S. chinense · S. chinese · S. cirratum · S. commune · S. compactum · S. condensatum · S. consanguineum · S. conspicuum · S. contortum · S. controversum · S. coriaceum · S. crupina · S. cubanicus · S. cubense · S. deccanense · S. decolor · S. decolorans · S. 'Dgc307'

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Further Reading

• Holm, L. et al. 1979. A geographical atlas of world weeds. (Atlas WWeed)
• Mannetje, L. 't & R. M. Jones, eds. 1992. Forages. Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA). (Pl Res SEAs) 4:203.
• Markle, G. M. et al., eds. 1998. Food and feed crops of the United States, ed. 2. (Food Feed Crops US)
• National Herbarium of New South Wales. 1961–1984. Flora of New South Wales. (F NSW)
• Parsons, W. T. & E. G. Cuthbertson. 1992. Noxious weeds of Australia. (Noxweed Aust)
• Rehm, S. 1994. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants. (Dict Rehm)
• Seed Regulatory and Testing Branch, Agricultural Marketing Service, U.S.D.A. 1999. State noxious-weed seed requirements recognized in the administration of the Federal Seed Act. (State Noxweed Seed)
• Turrill, W. B. et al., eds. 1952–. Flora of tropical East Africa. (F TE Afr) [= S. bicolor × S. halepense].
• Tzvelev, N. N. 1976. Zlaki SSSR. (Grass USSR) [= S. halepense × S. sudanense].
• Zuloaga, F. O. et al. 1994. Catalogo de la familia Poaceae en la Republica Argentina. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 47. (L Grass Argent) [with two varieties].
• de Wet, J. M. J. 1978. Systematics and evolution of Sorghum sect. Sorghum (Gramineae). Amer. J. Bot. 65:478. [mentions].
• Chen Shouliang, Jin Yuexing, Zhuang Tide, Fang Wenzhe, Sheng Guoying, Liu Liang, Wu Zhenlan, Lu Shenglian, Sun Bisin, Hu Zhihao, Wang Song, Sun Xiangzhong, Wang Huiqin, Yang Xilin, Wang Chaopin, Li Binggui & Wen Shaobin. 1990. Gramineae (Poaceae) (4). In: Chen Shouliang, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 10(1):1401
• Chen Shouliang, Zhuang Tide, Fang Wenzhe, Sheng Guoying, Jin Yuexing, Liu Liang, Sun Bisin, Hu Zhihao & Wang Song. 1997. Gramineae (Poaceae) (5). In: Chen Shouliang, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 10(2): 1301
• Liu Liang, Zhu Taiping, Chen Wenli, Wu Zhenlan & Lu Shenglian. Gramineae (Poaceae) (2). In: Liu Liang, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 9(2): 1405
• Lu Sheng-lian, Sun Yong-hua, Liu Shang-wu, Yang Yong-chang, Wu Zhen-lan, Kuo Pen-chao, Yang Hsi-ling, Wang Chao-pin & Tsui Nai-ran. 1987. Gramineae (3). In: Kuo Pen-chao, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 9(3): 1329
• Wang Zhengping, Ye Guanghan, Yang Yaling, Yu Zehua, Hu Chenhua, Geng Bojie, Feng Xuelin, Jia Liangzhi, Xia Nianhe, Li Dezhu, Zhang Weiping, Xue Jiru, Zhu Zhengde, Zhao Qiseng, Chen Shouliang, Sheng Guoying, Chen Shaoyun, Yao Changyu, Lu Jionglin, Sun Jiliang, Lin Wantao, Yi Tongpei, Zhao Huiru, Wen Taihui & Dai Qihui. 1996. Gramineae (Poaceae) (1).

Notes

Contributors

• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed December 06, 2007. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 6 providers.
• USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. Germplasm Resources Information Network - (GRIN) [Online Database]. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL (May 01, 2008)

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal December 06, 2007:

• Australian National Herbarium
• , Australian National Herbarium
• International Plant Genetic Resources Institute(IPGRI), The System-wide Information Network for Genetic Resources
• National Herbarium of New South Wales, NSW herbarium collection
• USDA PLANTS, USDA PLANTS Database

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3890074
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-565531
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13750273
• Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:67775-3
• GRIN Nomen Number: 35129
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 565531
• U.S.D.A. Plant Symbol: SOAL
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 63678

Footnotes

1. Shou-liang Chen, De-Zhu Li, Guanghua Zhu, Zhenlan Wu, Sheng-lian Lu, Liang Liu, Zheng-ping Wang, Bi-xing Sun, Zheng-de Zhu, Nianhe Xia, Liang-zhi Jia, Zhenhua Guo, Wenli Chen, Xiang Chen, Yang Guangyao, Sylvia M. Phillips, Chris Stapleton, Robert J. Soreng, Susan G. Aiken, Nikolai N. Tzvelev, Paul M. Peterson, Stephen A. Renvoize, Marina V. Olonova & Klaus Ammann "Poaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 22. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
2. Shou-liang Chen & Sylvia M. Phillips "Sorghum". in Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 334, 572, 600. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
3. Mean = 185.350 meters (608.104 feet), Standard Deviation = 498.560 based on 40 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]

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