Sorghum.] 
CLVII. GRAMINEJE (Stapf). 
133 
Grain over lin. long, more or less roundish or obo- 
vate-elliptic in outline ; panicle oblong with the 
rhachis running through. 
Pedicelled spikelets more or less persistent. 
Pedicelled spikelets up to 1^ lin. long. 
Mature glumes straw-colour to whitish ; grain 
slightly compressed, white or ochre-salmon, 
Schweinfurth, 1 80 — ‘ ‘ Zerzereih ’ ’ * — “ Ba- 
hana ” * ... ... v ar. Schweinfurthii. 
Mature glume blackish - red or black ; grain 
much compressed (Darye, 528) ... ...var .Lens. 
Pedicelled spikelets 2^-3J lin. long. 
Mature glumes not black. 
Mature glumes whitish, sometimes spotted, 
streaked or flushed with red, rather thin. 
Grain not umbonate, white ; mature 
glumes brittle upwards (“Rubai” ; 
Sennar *) var. fragile. 
Grain umbonate, much flattened, rich 
apricot-colour ; lower glume frequently 
transversely constricted * ... ... var. umbonatum. 
Mature glumes straw-colour, tinged with red, 
firm ; grain ochre-red to salmon on the 
top, paler below, often twin ( Hegareig *) var. rutilum. 
Mature glumes black ; grains sulphur- or maize- 
yellow or ochre-buff and sometimes twin 
(“ Safra Timan ” * — “ Safra ” * ; Sudan, 
White Nile * — “ Shabat Aimer ” ; Sudan, 
Kassala *) ... ... ... ... ... var. atrolutescens. 
Pedicelled spikelets readily deciduous, tips of pedi- 
cels and joints more or less discoid; mature 
glumes black (rarely the lower whitish, the 
upper variegated with red, chestnut-brown or 
black (“ Gassabi ” in v. Feterita). 
Grain ochre to salmon- colour, flushed with orange, 
or terra-cotta to Indian red, more or less 
gibbous ; glumes rather glabrous to quite 
glabrous when mature (“ Abu Sana ” ; Sen- 
nar, Shebh el Arial *— “ Wad Masnab ” ; 
Tayiba “ Aby Garda” ; Sudan, Geteina 
District — “ Um Shebasha ” *— 1 “ Wad Kassi- 
lek ” * — “El Torak Shaddo ” ; Sennar * — “El 
Torah”*) ... ... ... ... ... var. gibbum. 
Grain white, not gibbous ; glumes villosulous 
(“ Maghbash Akhdar ” ; Sudan, Geteina Dis- 
trict * — “ Web Akar ” * — “ Feterita ” * — 
“ Gassabi ” ; Sennar *) ... ... ... var. Feterita. 
Var. angolensis is the commonest Sorghum gfown for grain in Angola, and it 
is also the form introduced into South America. The fertile spikelets seem 
always to be awned, the awn being so short that only the sharply bent bristle 
is exserted. The East African specimens differ from it apparently only in the 
absence of the awn and the dark, almost chocolate-red colour of the grains. 
Var. Cerevisice differs from them only in the peculiar modification of the inflo- 
rescence. It is used exclusively for fermenting beer. All the other varieties 
are more or less valuable cereals. Among them Feterita is considered to be 
one of the most prized by the Sudanese (Schweinfurth, The Heart of Africa, 
i. 245, 246). It has recently been introduced into the United States as a new 
grain crop (see Vinall^, Ball, U.S. Dept. Agric. Circ. no. 122, 15-32). 
