GRASSES OF OHIO 325 



Tribe, Andropogoneae. Beard-grass Tribe. 



Grasses usually having the spikelets in pairs on the branches of the 

 inflorescence, the one sessile and perfect, the other pediceled and perfect, 

 staminate, or vestigial; often arranged in rows; empty glumes more 

 or less indurated, the flowering glumes hyaline; lemma of the perfect 

 flower usually owned; spikelets articulate below tJie empty glumes, 

 dor sally compress or round. 



62. Holcus L. Sorghum. 



Annual or perennial grasses with solid stems, long broad flat 

 leaves and large terminal panicles. Spikelets 1 -flowered, in pairs at 

 the nodes or in 3's at the ends, the one sessile and bisporangiate 

 the other pedicellate and staminate or entirely vestigial ; empty 

 glumes of the sessile spikelet indurated and usually shining, ob- 

 scurely nerved; flowering glumes hyaline, lemma awned. palet small 

 or sometimes absent ; grain free, more or less enclosed in the flower- 

 ing glumes. 



1. Panicle lax the branches with spikelets nearly to the base ; stem usually not 

 over % in. thick ; perennial. H. halapense. 



1. Panicle large and compact or with very long branches naked below ; stem 

 usually Yz-V/i i n - i n diameter; annual. H. sorghum. 



1. Holcus halapensis L. Johnson-grass. A coarse perennial 

 grass with solid, simple or sometimes branched stems, 3-5 ft. high, 

 and an open panicle, usually with whorled, spreading branches, naked 

 toward the base. Sessile spikelet, ovate-lanceolate, usually purplish, 

 pubescent with appressed hairs ; awn of the fertile lemma more or 

 less bent ; pedicellate spikelets with membranous glumes, sometimes 

 enclosing a staminate flower but usually vestigial. 



Cultivated as a forage grass. Escaped. In cultivated fields and 

 waste places. A troublesome weed in the South. July-Sept. Native 

 of Europe. Cuyahoga, Erie, Franklin, Madison. 



2. Holcus sorghum L. Common Sorghum. A coarse annual 

 grass with thick solid stems, 5-12 ft. high, usually with rather dense, 

 much-branched panicles, but in some varieties with the naked part 

 of the branches greatly elongated. Sessile spikelets ovoid or ellip- 

 tical, with a large usually exposed grain ; pediceled spikelets vestigial. 



Cultivated in many forms for fodder, grain, syrup, and broom- 

 corn under various names as sorghum, durra, Kafir-corn, broom-corn, 

 feterita, milo-maize, etc. July-Sept. Volunteer in Adams County. 



Sudan-grass is an annual slender-stemmed gra^s. 4-10 ft. high, recently 

 introduced as a forage crop. It is without rhizomes and is apparently a variety 

 of the common sorghum. 



