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, 
staniinate, or vestigial; often arranged in rows; empty glumes more 
or less indurated, the dowering glumes hyaline; lemma of the perfect 
flower usually awned; spikelets articulate belozv the 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 ii^- thick; perennial. H. halapense. 
1. Panicle large and compact or with very long branches naked below; stem 
usually y 2 -iy 2 in. in 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, Eranklin, 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. 
Siidan-grass is an annual slender-stemmed grass, 4-10 ft. high, recently 
introduced as a forage crop. It is without rhizomes and is apparently a variety 
of the common sorghum. 
