25 



young or stunted by drought (Watt). Cases of poisoning cattle 

 have occurred in Montana and California; but no cases have 

 been reported from the Southern States where the grass is most 

 abundant, used both for pasture and as hay (Piper). In this 

 respect, in common with other species of the genus, it evidently 

 requires sonic care, especially when fed green. Where* tin 

 plant finds a home, it spreads so readily that the difficulty seems 

 ~ to be not to grow it but to keep it under control. 



!. 1914, "Poisoning by Sorghum halepense," pp. 229-230. 



| Sorghum Roxburgh ii, Stapf; Shallu (India). 



Annual with stout, tall culms, including several varieties, 

 cultivated in India. Africa and in the United States for the 



gram. 



Sorghum 



S 



height, containing in their stems sufficient juice from which 

 sugar may be extracted on a commercial scale. Other Sorghums, 

 it may be noted, contain a sweet juice, notably amongst the 

 "Kafir" group (see S. Cafjrorum), but not enough to justify 

 t heir use for the extraction of sugar. The preparation of 

 Sorghum sugar and syrup is of some importance in the United 

 States, though as au industry it is small in comparison with that 

 of " Sugar-Cane," and "Sugar Jieet," Experiments were being 

 made about 1880, and it is interesting to note that of the 

 varieties grown at that time there are three — "Early Orange/" 

 "Early Amber" and "Honey Cane/ 9 in the collection pre- 

 sented by the United States Department of Agriculture to the 

 Museum at Kew in 1882, that are enumerated by Piper with 



P 



1 



oorgos cultivated at tne present time, me varieties belonging 

 to this group may also all be grown for forage. 



4 'Great Millet" or "Guinea Corn" may, with the exception 

 of #S. halepensc, properly apply to all of the above species of 

 Sorghum, as these names were always associated with Andro- 

 pogon Sorghum, Brot. var. vulgaris. Hack. (Sorghum vulgarc. 

 Pers.), and Africaf is believed to be the home of most, if not 

 all, of the cultivated plants that could be included under these 

 names. Broadly, the cultivated Sorghums are sometimes 

 divided into juicy and sweet-stemmed and dry-stemmed. They 

 are grown chiefly for the grain, sugar and syrup from the stem, 

 forage and for brooms. In Africa and Asia the grain for food 

 is probably the most important element, and in the United 



♦This name is used here lo apply to American Sugar Sorgo; but 

 originally (Linn. Sp. PI. ed. i) it was meant for S. Roxburghii or a form 

 closely allied to it. In the second edition Linnaeus completely changed the 

 diagnosis «o as to fit it to a sweet stemmed form of the group of 8, bicolor, 

 Nees (Andropogon bieolor, Kunth ; Holcu* bieolor, Linn.). To this lS 

 saccharaium of the second edition, some specimens received from Egypt as 

 ?. saccharatum appear to be referable; but whether they are identical with 

 Piper's " Sorgo " I cannot say. 0. Stapf. 



t See the recent exposition of the getius Sorghum by Dr. Stapf in "The 

 Flora of Tropical Africa," vol. far.» part i. (1917). pp. 104*164 



