PANICLE CHARACTERS OF SORGO 35 
light yellow, frequently darkest at the base and sometimes more or less 
mottled, without longitudinal corrugations or creases at the base ; caryopsis 
extending well beyond the apices of the glumes, yellowish or brown ; style 
bases on the ventral half of the grain and turned forward ; sterile spikelets 
somewhat inflated or somewhat compressed, light yellow, weakly nerved, the 
lateral nerves often having minute bristles. 
Red X (Sugar Plant No. 021691-96).— Similar to S. P. No. 021630-31, but 
panicle shorter, a little more compact, and the spikelets somewhat more 
crowded; glumes of fertile spikelet reddish brown (Ridgway, maroon) or 
lighter ; caryopsis yellowish or orange-brown, usually darkest where having 
been exposed. 
Sumac (Sugar Plant No. 0181). — Panicle more compact and somewhat 
smaller than in S. P. No. 021691-96, 5 to 9 inches long, 1.5 to 3.5 inches broad ; 
axis usually reaching more than two-thirds to the apex ; lowest node most com- 
monly without rays, this node usually close to the next ; rays short and rigid ; 
axis and branches more pubescent, the branches hairy on the angles ; spikelets 
crowded ; first glume of fertile spikelet elliptic or more rarely ovate-elliptic or 
obovate-elliptic, usually obtuse at the summit, dark brown or nearly black at 
the base or farther up and dull yellow above, or all dull yellow, 0.12 to 0.14 
inch long, 0.7 to 0.10 inch broad, usually more persistently pubescent than the 
second glume, obscurely nerved as far as one-third or two-thirds the length 
downward from the summit; second glume more darkly colored, somewhat 
more indurate and the nerves more obscure ; caryopsis broadly obovate or 
broadly elliptic-obovate, the globose summit somewhat turned toward the ven- 
tral side, orange-brown or yellowish below and reddish brown above where ex- 
posed (Ridgway, chocolate or lighter) ; sc.utellum curved toward the ventral 
side at the base, often jutting out at the base from the endosperm and extend- 
ing considerably lower, usually of the lighter color ; sterile spikelet small, 
shorter than the second glume of the fertile spikelet, and rarely reaching beyond 
its apex, light yellow and light reddish brown ; lateral nerves of first glume 
sometimes hispid to the base. 
Sugar Drip (Sugar Plant No. 02162J f -29) .— Similar to S. P. 021691-96, but 
with glumes more indurate and more thickened, black or occasionally dark 
brown except at the apices dull yellow ; first glume usually with faint corruga- 
tions at the base; second glume with longitudinal creases; nerves of the first 
glume not perceptible below the upper third or half; caryopsis usually some- 
what browner than in S. P. 021691-96; sterile spikelets more strongly nerved. 
Sugar Plant No. 0241455 differs from S. P. 021624-29 chiefly in that the 
glumes of the fertile spikelet are reddish brown. 
White African (Sugar Plant No. 020222). — Panicle cylindric or obconical ; 
axis usually much abbreviated, sometimes to less than one-fourth the length 
of the panicle, deeply furrowed ; rays ascending, coarse, and usually close 
together; secondary branches relatively short; first glume of fertile spikelet 
obovate-elliptic or elliptic, indurate, and thickened about as in the preceding 
variety, black or occasionally dark brown, but frequently light yellow at the 
apex, the nerves apparent only in the upper one-third or one-half and the lateral 
nerves with or without minute bristles ; caryopsis obovate-elliptic or elliptic, the 
summit turned a little toward the ventral side, white but sometimes having 
brownish spots or blotches ; sterile spikelets light yellow or almost white. 
