S22 COLLEGE BOTANY 



extensively in America than in any other part of the world and 

 is used in great quantities as food for both man and live stock. 

 It is one of the most valuable of the American food plants ; its 

 only rival being the potato (page 375) which is cultivated more 

 extensively in some parts of the world than the corn. There are 

 a great many varieties which are suited to many varieties of soil 

 and climate and to many uses (Fig. 162). 



Sugar cane (Sa-ccharum officinarum) is a plant which re- 

 sembles corn in general appearance but is much taller, sometimes 

 attaining a height of fifteen or twenty feet. The inflorescence is 

 a terminal panicle, the spikelets are borne in pairs, of which one 

 is pedicellate and the other sessile. Each spikelet contains two 

 flowers and tufts of long silky hairs, the lower flower is without 

 stamens or pistils, but the upper one is perfect, consisting of 

 two awnless glumes, one to three stamens, single, sessile, smooth 

 ovary with two styles and plumose stigma. 



It originated in Cochin-China, but it is not known just 

 when it was first brought under cultivation. Sugar was first 

 used in the compounding of medicine and has been used as a 

 food for less than 500 years. Sugar cane is grown extensively 

 throughout the tropical regions of the world. However, it should 

 be remembered that we now secure a considerable part of our 

 supply of sugar from other plants, such as sugar beets and 

 maple trees. 



Broom, corn (Sorghum saccharatum) is a plant which re- 

 sembles Indian corn in general appearance, but has perfect 

 flowers borne in a rather dense, complicated terminal panicle. 

 It originated in central Africa but is now grown in many tem- 

 perate regions and is used for the manufacture of brooms, feed- 

 ing of cattle and poultry and to some extent for the making of 

 syrup and sugar. 



Millet (Setaria italica-} has leafy stems from two to five feet 

 in height and a close, compound spike inflorescence. Its origin 

 is somewhat uncertain. It is grown in many parts of the world 

 for stock feed, and the seeds are very generally used as feed for 

 caged birds. 



