584 GRAMINE.E. (GRASS FAMILY.) 



65. SORGHUM, Pers. BROOM CORN. 



Spikelcts 2-3 together on the ramifications of an open panicle, the lateral 

 ones sterile or often reduced merely to their pedicels ; only the middle or ter- 

 minal one fertile, its glumes coriaceous or indurated, sometimes awnlcss : other- 

 wise nearly as in Andropogon. Stamens 3. (The Asiatic name of a cultivated 

 species.) 



1. S. nutailS. (INDIAN GRASS. WOOD-GRASS.) Culm simple (3- 

 5 high), terete ; leaves linear-lanceolate, glaucous ; sheaths smooth ; panicle 

 narrowly oblong, rather crowded (6' -12' long); the perfect spikclcts at length 

 drooping (light russet-brown and shining), clothed, especially towards the base, 

 with fawn-colored hairs, lanceolate, shorter than the twisted awn ; the sterile 

 spikelets small and imperfect, deciduous, or reduced to a mere plumose-hairy 

 pedicel, 1J. (Andropogon nutans, Z/.) Dry soil; common, especially south- 

 ward, where it exhibits several more or less marked varieties. Aug. 



S. VULG\RE, Pcrs., the INDIAN MILLET, has several cultivated varieties or 

 races, such as the GUINEA-CORN and BROOM-CORN. 



ZEA MATS, the INDIAN CORN, is a well-known Paniceous Grass. 

 SACCHARUM OFFICINARUM, L., the SUGAR-CASE, is a tropical Grass, 

 closely allied to Erianthus, p. 582. 



