XXVI. 



SORGHUM. 



I. STRUCTURE, COMPOSITION AND VARIETIES. 



535. Name. — There is no common name which is applied 

 generally to the different cultivated forms of Andropogon son 

 gJiiini vulgaris Hackel, A. sorghtcm Brot., Sorghum vulgare 

 Pers. The cultivated forms may be divided into three groups : 

 (i) Those varieties whose juice has a high per cent of sugar 

 which is used for making sirup and from which sugar is some- 

 times produced, known as sorghum {Sorghum saccharatum 

 Pers.), sometimes probably incorrectly recognized as a separate 

 species ; (2) those varieties cultivated for their grain, known as 

 Kafir corn, African millet, Indian millet, durra (spelled also dura, 

 dhura, doura, dourra), milo maize, Jerusalem corn, Guiana com, 

 and Eg}'ptian rice corn ; (3) those varieties cultivated for the 

 production of their spikes which are used for making brooms, 

 known as broom corn. 



The first form may be distinguished from the second and 

 third forms by the quality of the juice, the first being known as 

 sweet or saccharine sorghums and the second and third being 

 known as nonsaccharine sorghums. In this book the word sor- 

 ghum will be used to apply to all cultivated forms, and state- 

 ments made are to be taken as applying to all unless otherwise 

 stated. 



536. Relationships. — Sorghum belongs to the same tribe 

 (Andropogoneae) and to the same genus as Johnson grass 

 {Afidropogoji halcpciisis Sibth.), which is believed by Hackel 

 to be the original form of sorghum.^ 



* True Grasses, p. 59. 



