230 



BULLETIN 772, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



3 mm. long. It is com- 

 monly cultivated in tropi- 

 cal America for forage 

 and has been introduced 

 for this purpose in Flor- 

 ida and southern Texas 

 and also into the Tropics 

 of the Old World. In 

 Porto Rico it is called 

 malojilla. This species 

 has been incorrectly re- 

 ferred to P. molle Swartz. 

 A field of Para grass 

 soon becomes a tangle of 

 stolons and the decumbent 

 bases of the stems, and for best results it 

 must be renewed by plowing or disking. 

 Panicum maximum Jacq., guinea grass, 

 is a perennial erect bunch-grass, 4 to 6 

 feet tall, with open spreading panicles 

 of elliptic spikelets about 3 mm. long, 

 the fruit rugose. This is a native of 

 Africa, introduced into tropical America, 

 where it is cultivated for forage, fur- 

 nishing pasture and green feed. It is 

 said to have been introduced into Ja- 

 maica from west tropical Africa in 1774. 

 These two species, Para grass and guinea 

 grass are the only grasses that are ex- 



FIG. 138. Panicum dicJwto- tensively cultivated for forage in tropi- 

 mum. Plant, x i ; two cal America. Panicum miliaceum L., 



views of spikelet and fertile -11 j. i -n ^ i 



floret, x 10. proso millet, broom-corn millet, hog 



millet, an erect annual 2 to 3 feet tall, 



with a drooping panicle, is cultivated in Europe for the seed, which 

 is used for food. It is sparingly cultivated in this country for forage. 



