000 ENDOGENOUS PLANTS 



cealed by the sheaths. Leaves 3 to 12 inches long ; ligule short, ciliate. Spikes 

 about an inch long, in scattered lateral fascicles on the short slender branches ; 

 rachis filiform, pilose with long white silky hairs. 

 Jfifo&. Sterile hills; dry swamps: frequent. Fl. Sept. Fr. Octo. 



4. A. iiicicroiiriitt, MX. Culms rather stout, corymbosely 

 bushy-branched at summit; sheaths roughish ; spikes in pairs, on 

 sheathed peduncles. 

 LARGE-TAILED AND.ROPOQON. Cluster-flowered Indian-Grass. 



Culm 1% to 3 feet high, smooth. Leaves 3 to 12 inches long ; sheaths rather 

 open; ligule short, truncate, minutely fringed. Spikes scarcely an inch long, part* 

 ly concealed in the compressed boat-shaped sheaths ; rachis filiform, clothed with 

 long white silky hairs. 

 Hah. Swampy sterile grounds : frequent. Fl. Sept. Fr. Octo. 



509. SORGHUM, Persoon. 

 [The ancient name of a cultivated species.] 



Spikelets 2 or 3 together, on the branches of a mostly loose and 

 open panicle, the lateral ones sterile, or often mere rudiments, 

 the middle (or terminal) one, only, fertile. Glumes coriaceous, some* 

 times awnless. Stamens 3. For the rest, as in Andropogon. 



f Culm slender, fistular. 



1* S. nutaiis, A. 6fray. Leaves lance-linear ; ligule elongated, 

 truncate; panicle narrowly oblong; fertile spikelets russet-brown. 

 Andropogon nutans. L. FL Cestr. ed. 2. p. 88. 

 NODDING SORGHUM. Oat-like Indian-Grass. 



Perennial. Culm 3 to 5 feet high, simple, terete, smooth; nodes bearded with 

 white appressed hairs. Leaves 6 to 18 inches long, roughish. Panicle 6 to 9 

 inches in length, the pedicels of the upper spikelets plumosely hairy; perfect 

 spikelets clothed with tawny hairs, shorter than the twisted awn, finally drooping. 

 Hob. Sterile soils ; neglected old fields : frequent. Fl. Aug. Fr. Sept. 

 tfCulm stout, solid with pith. 



%. S. SACCHARATUM, Pers. Leaves linear-lanceolate ; ligule short, 

 ciliate ; panicle with long verticillate branches, loosely expanding. 

 SUGAR SORGHUM. Broom-Corn. 



Annual. Culm 6 to 9 feet high, half an inch to an inch in diameter ; nodes 

 tumid, with a ring of short appressed hairs at the base of the sheaths. Leaves 

 about 2 feet long, and 2 inches wide. Panicle 1 to 2 feet long, the branches num- 

 erous, nearly simple, long and slender; spikelets mostly in pairs (the terminal 

 ones in threes), in racemose clusters near the extremities of the branches, clothed , 

 with glossy appressed hairs; stigmas greenish-yellow. 

 Hob. Fields and gardens. Nat. of India. Fl. Aug. Fr. Octo. 



Obs, Cultivated for the panicles, of which brooms and brushes 

 are made; According to Mr. WATSON'S Annals, CHARLES THOMSON, 

 the Secretary of the Revolutionary Congress, said he well remem- 

 bered the first introduction of Broom Corn into our Country. Dr. 

 FRANKLIN chanced to see an imported Corn Whisk in the possession 

 of a Lady, and while examining it, as a novelty, spied a grain of it 

 still attached to the stalk. This he took and planted. 



