Sorghums
Sorghum bicolor
Known as a 'camel crop' because of its extreme drought tolerance, sorghum can temporarily suspend its growth during dry spells and resume when water returns.
- Scientific name
- Sorghum bicolor
- Taxonomy
- Plantae › Tracheophyta › Liliopsida › Poales › Poaceae › Sorghum
- IUCN Red List status
- Least Concern
- Population trend
- stable
- Biome
- grassland
- Habitat
- Arid and semi-arid grasslands, savannas, and agricultural plains.
- Diet
- Autotrophic (photosynthesis utilizing the highly efficient C4 pathway).
- Range
- Sub-Saharan Africa, North America, South Asia, Australia
- Size
- 1.5 to 5 meters tall with seed heads up to 30 cm long.
- Lifespan
- Annual (cultivated) or short-lived perennial (wild).
- Active
- diurnal
- Threats
- Invasive agricultural pests (such as the sugarcane aphid), extreme drought beyond its threshold, and genetic erosion of wild varieties.
- Safe to approach?
- Harmless to touch and look at. However, avoid ingesting raw, young shoots or drought-stressed wild plants, as they can accumulate toxic levels of hydrogen cyanide.
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...
Photo: Douglas Goldman, CC-BY-SA, via iNaturalist
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