Compilation
Sorghum dimidiatum
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Name
Identification
Sorghum dimidiatum Stapf [family POACEAE ] Verified by Stapf,O., Sorghum purpureo-sericeum (A.Rich.) Schweinf. & Aschers. [family POACEAE ] (stored under name);
Related name
- Sorghum purpureo-sericeum
- Sorghum dimidiatum
Flora
Entry for SORGHUM dimidiatum Stapf [family POACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora of Tropical Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of Tropical Africa, Vol 9, page 1, (1917) Author: (By O. STAPF.)
Names
SORGHUM dimidiatum Stapf [family POACEAE]
Information
Perennial (?) about 2 ft. high. Culms geniculately ascending, branched, 3- or more (?)-noded, internodes enclosed. Leaf-sheaths terete, smooth, glabrous, subherbaceous, with a dense white spreading beard 2 1/2 lin. long at the nodes and another at the junction with the blade; ligules very short, membranous, ciliate and long-hairy from the back; blades linear, long-attenuated to a fine point, slightly narrower towards the base, to over 1 ft. long, 3 lin. broad, pale dull green, hairy on both sides, hairs very fine, sometimes from minute tubercles, margins very finely cartilaginous and scaberulous, midrib whitish, broad and flat above, prominent below, lateral nerves about 5 on each side. Panicle linear, up to 2 1/2 in. long; rhachis smooth, glabrous except at the shortly bearded nodes; lower branches about 4-nate, upper 2-nate or solitary, filiform, flexuous, undivided, up to over 1 in. long, glabrous and smooth or with a few short hairs at the thickened tips. Racemes few-noded, bearded at the nodes; joints 1 3/4 lin. long, densely ciliate, hairs reddish or purplish, up to 1 lin. long; pedicels very similar. Sessile spikelet lanceolate, acuminate, 3 1/2–4 lin. long, 1 lin. wide; lower glume firmly coriaceous up to half-way, then abruptly thinner, more or less chartaceous, 9-nerved, the coriaceous portion usually early turning a glossy brown or black, the remainder green, rigidly ciliate upwards and hairy on the sides; upper glume coriaceous up to three-quarters, then gradually thinner, as long as the lower, lanceolate, acuminate, 5-nerved, hairy upwards. Valve of lower floret linear-oblong, 3–3 1/2 lin. long, membranous, whitish or brownish, ciliate, 2-nerved; of upper floret ovate, shortly 2-lobed, 1 1/2 lin. long, ciliate; awn slender, about 1 in. long, kneed at and twisted below the middle. Column dark bronze-colour, minutely ciliate along the spirals, bristle pale. Lodicules densely ciliate. Pedicelled spikelet ♂ (?) or neuter, linear-lanceolate, 3 lin. long, greenish; glumes membranous, loosely hairy, lower about 7-, upper 5-nerved; valves linear-lanceolate to linear, hyaline, ciliate, lower entire, 2-nerved, upper 2-lobed, 1-nerved, with the nerve running out into a hair-like mucro.
Distribution
Sudan Nile Land without precise locality, Broun !
Notes
Perhaps a hybrid of S. versicolor and some cultivated form. The differentiation of the lower glumes into a thick coriaceous, usually dark coloured lower and a thin chartaceous green upper half is very striking, and recalls similar conditions in S. Ankolib, but the transition is quite abrupt. The general habit of the plant is that of S. versicolor, but the spikelets are slightly larger and very gradually narrowed from the middle upwards.