FTA 9: 114 (1917).- Type: Isert in Hb. Willd. No. 18639, Ghana (holo- B).
SYNONYMS
Rhaphis arundinacea Desv., Mém.Soc. Agric. Angers 1 : 173 (1831);
Andropogon arundinaceus Willd., Sp. Pl. 4: 906 (1805), nom. illeg., non Berg (1767);
Sorghum bicolor (Linn.) Moench ssp. arundinaceum (Desv.) De Wet & Harlan, in Harlan, de Wet & Stemmer, Origin Afr. PI. Dom. 455 (1976).;
Andropogon sorghum var. virgatus Hack., Monogr. Phan. 6: 504 (1886).- Type: Kotschy 173, Sudan (isosyn- K) and other syn.;
Andropogon sorghum var. aethiopicum Hack., DC, Monogr. Phan. 6: 504 (1889).- Type: Kotschy 390, Sudan (iso- K);
Sorghum aethiopicum (Hack.) Stapf, FTA 9: 119 (1917);
Andropogon sorghum (Linn.) Brot. var. effusus Hack, in D C , Monogr. Phan. 6: 503 (1889);
Andropogon sorghum (Linn.) Brot. ssp. vogelianus Piper, Proc. Biol. Soc. 28: 34(1915);
Sorghum vogelianum (Piper) Stapf, FTA 9: 117 (1917).- Type: Vogel 11, Nigeria (holo- K);
Sorghum virgatum (Hack.) Stapf, FTA 9: 111 (1917);
Sorghum lanceolatum Stapf, FTA 9: 112 (1917).- Type: Dalziel 293, Nigeria (iso- K), Brown 1473, Sudan (iso- K);
Sorghum veticiliflorum (Steud.) Stapf, FTA 9: 116 (1917);
Sorghum abyssinicum (Piper) Stapf, FTA 9: 118 (1917).
Regional litterature: FI. Nigeria 108, fig.54 (1970); FWTA: 467 (1972); RI: 238, fig. 87 (1977); FTEA: 727 (1982); Gram. Togo: 319 (1983); Gram. Cameroun: 402, fig. 89 (1992); Fl. Bénin: 245 (2006); Poac. CI: 480, fig. (1995); Fl. Ethiopia & Eritrea 7: 299 (1995); Pl. Mauritanie: 305 (1998); Poac. Niger : 512, fig. (1999); Fl. Zambesiaca 10,4: 23, fig (2002); Fl. Guinée: 478 (2009); Pl. Burkina Faso: 114 (2012); Fl. Chad (2013); Pl. Sudan & S Sudan: 147 (2015).
Description:
* Robust erect leafy annual or perennial of 0.5-3.5 m high. Culms stout, cane-like and terete or flattened opposite emerging branches, strongly prop-rooted from the lower nodes. Leaves broad linear, 5-100 cm long and 5-10 cm, flat, glabrous and finely nerved throughout, a prominent white midrib and sharply scabrid margins; base rounded; ligule a purplish membrane of 2-3 mm long, sometimes backed by a mass of short dense hairs; sheath glabrous, the margins sometimes fringed with dense short hairs. Roots stout and coarse.
* Inflorescence a large linear or open spreading panicle 10-60 cm long with drooping branches bearing numerous articulated fragile racemes with 2-7 pairs of spikelets. Rachis filiform; internodes and pedicels about 4 mm long with dense yellowish hairs. Spikelets in pairs, one sessile and hermaphrodite, the other pedicelled and male, at the tip of the raceme in triads.
* Sessile spikelets plump, lanceolate to narrowly ovate, 4-9 mm long and 2-3 mm broad, yellow with a reddish glow. Lower glume bicarenate and ciliate in the lower half, sometimes blackish at maturity; callus rounded, ciliate. Upper lemma awnless or shortly awned; awn caudate, 5-30 mm long. Pedicelled spikelet linear to lanceolate, male or reduced, smaller than the sessile spikelet and purplish green.
Distribution West Africa: Cape Verde, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mali, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Chad, Sudan.
Distribution world-wide: C, NE, E and southern Africa, India; introduced in the Pacific and Latin America.