Plantae > Tracheophyta > Liliopsida > Poales > Poaceae > Sorghum > Sorghum bicolor

Sorghum bicolor (broom-corn; chicken corn; broomcorn; black amber; shatter cane; shattercane; sorghum; wild cane)

Synonyms:

Wikipedia Abstract

Sorghum bicolor, commonly called sorghum (/ˈsɔːrɡəm/) and also known as great millet, durra, jowari, or milo, is a grass species cultivated for its grain, which is used for food, both for animals and humans, and for ethanol production. Sorghum originated in northern Africa, and is now cultivated widely in tropical and subtropical regions. Sorghum is the world's fifth most important cereal crop after rice, wheat, maize and barley. S. bicolor is typically an annual, but some cultivars are perennial. It grows in clumps that may reach over 4 m high. The grain is small, ranging from 2 to 4 mm in diameter. Sweet sorghums are sorghum cultivars that are primarily grown for foliage, syrup production, and ethanol; they are taller than those grown for grain.
View Wikipedia Record: Sorghum bicolor

Attributes

Edible [1]  May be edible. See the Plants For A Future link below for details.
Flower Type [1]  Hermaphrodite
Hazards [1]  The immature plant is poisonous, especially if slightly wilted, since it can contain the toxins hydrogen cyanide and the alkaloid hordenine; These substances are destroyed if the plant is dried or made into silage; In small quantities, hydrogen cyanide has been shown to stimulate respiration and improve digestion, it is also claimed to be of benefit in the treatment of cancer. In excess, however, it can cause respiratory failure and even death.
Lifespan [1]  Annual
Pollinators [1]  Wind
Structure [2]  Grass
Usage [1]  The flowering panicles are used as brushes brooms and whisks etc; Stems are used for weaving fences, mats, wattle houses etc; The plant is an excellent source of biomass;
Height [1]  16.4 feet (5 m)
View Plants For A Future Record : Sorghum bicolor

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Everglades and Dry Tortugas Biosphere Reserve   Florida, United States  
LIMNES TRICHONIDA KAI LYSIMACHEIA 35286 Greece  
Palava Protected Landscape Area V   Czech Republic  
Piedras Blancas National Park II 34735 Costa Rica  

Ecosystems

Predators

+ Click for the list (32)

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Criconema mutabile[7]
Helicotylenchus dihystera (Steiner's spiral nematode)[7]

External References

USDA Plant Profile

NatureServe Explorer

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Plants For A Future licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
♦ 2Kattge, J. et al. (2011b) TRY - a global database of plant traits Global Change Biology 17:2905-2935
♦ 3Jorrit H. Poelen, James D. Simons and Chris J. Mungall. (2014). Global Biotic Interactions: An open infrastructure to share and analyze species-interaction datasets. Ecological Informatics.
♦ 4Atherigona orientalis (Schiner) (Insecta: Diptera: Muscidae), Kenneth L. Hibbard, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry; and William A. Overholt, University of Florida, September 2012
♦ 5del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
♦ 6Species of Frankliniella Trybom (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) from the Asian-Pacific Area, Chin-Ling Wang, Feng-Chyi Lin, Yi-Chung Chiu, and Hsien-Tzung Shih, Zoological Studies 49(6): 824-838 (2010)
♦ 7Species Interactions of Australia Database, Atlas of Living Australia, Version ala-csv-2012-11-19
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0