Fodder and Pasture Grasses op South Africa. 425 



FODDER AND PASTURE GRASSES OF SOUTH 



AFRICA. 



I.— Sudan Grass 



(Sori/hii m Sudutieitse Stapt). 



By Henry A. Melle, B.A., and Sydney M. Stent, Division 

 of Botany, Pretoria. 



History. 



The following* account of the introduction of Sudan grass into the 

 United States is taken from the pamphlet issued hy Messrs. F. H. 

 Brunning, Melbourne : — 



" Sudan grass is the lesult of a search for forms of wild 

 andropogons which do not have roof -stocks. It is acknowledged by 

 agriculturists that Joluison grass, which belongs to this group, would 

 be a valuable hay plant for hot dry areas if it were not supplied with 

 aggressive underground stems. Eecognizing this fact, an organized 

 search for forms lacking these root-stocks was begun under the 

 auspices of the U.S.A. Bureau of Agriculture, the result being a 

 grass obtained under the name of ' Garawi ' from the Director of 

 Agriculture to the Sudan Government at Khartoum in 1909. The 

 seed was tried at an experiment station in Texas the following spring. 

 The grass looked very promising ther.e, and plans were immediately 

 made for extending* the plantings in other parts. In order to give 

 it distinctiveness the name 'Sudan grass' was applied io it." 



As the name implies, the grass is a native of tropical North 

 Africa, and is not known to grow spontaneously south of the Equator. 

 It was first introduced into the United States, as stated above, in 

 1909. In June, 1914, Dr. I. B. Pole Evans, Chief of the Division 

 of Botany, procured a quantity of the seed from the U.S.A. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, which was sown the following season at the 

 experiment station at Groenkloof, near Pretoria, where excellent 

 crops have been secured. 



Nomenclature. 



Sudan grass has been described by Prof. Piper, of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, U.S.A., under the botanical name of Andropogon 

 sorghuvi, var. Sttdanensis, but 0. Stapf, of the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens, Kew, who has recently made a very thorough and scientific 

 examination of the tropical grasses, has revived the generic name of 

 Sorghum for this section of the Andropogonae, and Sudan grass must 

 henceforth be known botanically as Sorghum Sudanense Stapf. 



In parts of North Africa where this plant occurs naturally it is 

 known to the natives under the name of " Garawi," but in the U.S.A. 

 it was given the name of " Sudan grass," by which name it is now 

 pojiularly known. 



