792 



characterised by the colour of the mature glumes and grains, 

 also in Mauritius and North America (I.e.). 



An annual, culms about 6 ft. high (Stapf, Lc.) 5-7 ft. (Mont- 

 gomery, Corn Crops, p. 309). Grain— usually in erect heads, 

 white, yelIo%yish, reddish, or apricot-orange more or less shaded 

 in these colours. The stems are sweet, but less so than the 

 '' sweet sorghums " (S. saccharatum) . In North America where 

 *' Kafir corn '* is stated to have been introduced from S, Africa 

 in 1876, the varieties grown are '' Blackhull Kafir '* — nearly white 



ams ^Ylth black glumes, the most important; ''Red Kafir" 

 dark red grains, yellowish to dark gray glumes ; ** Pink 

 Kafir '' — pink grains ; '' White Kafir " — white grains and glumes 

 (Piper, Forage PI. p. 272). These—" red/' '' white " and " black 

 hull'' are the three principal varieties of "Kafir"; the red 

 variety is open to objection because of the astringent taste of 

 the seed-coat, common to all Kafirs with a coloured seed-coat; 

 in the white seeded variety, " blackhull," the seed-coat is not 



mne 



with 



Kafir (Montgomery, I.e.) in this group, whilst together with 



Milo " and " Brown Durra " in the Durra group {see S, Durra) 



hums grown there for grain ^ ^ _ 



may also be grown for forage. There 



specimens 



Nigeria, but there is a record (U.S. Dept. Agric. Bur. PI. Ind. 

 Bull. No. 137, 1909, "Seeds & PL Imported," p. 18) under 



(( 



Kafir " {Andropogon Sorghum) of the varieties " Black Hull," 



Matakwa " and " White Matakwa " being presented to 

 the Department of Agriculture (U.S.) hj the Transvaal Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, the seed coming originally from Maiduguri, 

 in Bornu, Northern Nigeria. 



i2e/.— Kafir as a Grain Crop, Ball, U.S. Dept. Agric, 

 Farmers' Bull. No. 552, 1913, pp. 1-19, illustrated. " Kaffir 



pp. 379-380. 



from South Africa, Bull. Imp. Inst., xiij. 1915, 



Sorghum caudatum, Stapf; Fl. Trop. Afr., IX. p. 131. 



Cape Verde Islands, Uganda, B.E. Africa, Angola, Belgian 

 Congo, Zanzibar, in Africa; introduced to Tropical America, 

 Jamaica, etc. 



A food grain of some importance, widely cultivated in Angola, 

 the Sudan, East Africa, etc. It grows to a height of about 14 ft. 

 Several varieties are distinguished in the Flora of Tropical Africa, 

 amongst which may be mentioned var. angolensis, Stapf, the 

 commonest Sorghum grown in Angola; var. Cerevisiae, Stapf, 

 with red grains, used exclusively for fermenting beer in Uganda 

 (Da we, Herb. Kew) and var. Feterita, Stapf, perhaps the most 

 important food-grain in the Sudan, where in the Geteina district 



Inst 



Maghbash Akhdar " (specimen in Herb. Kew 



ram 



this reason it has been recommended for m 



