Compilation
Sorghum somaliense

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Name

Identification
Isotype of Sorghum somaliense Snowden [family GRAMINEAE ] Verified by Not on sheet, Sorghum arundinaceum (Desv.) Stapf [family GRAMINEAE ] (stored under name); Verified by Not on sheet,
Related name
  • Sorghum somaliense
  • Sorghum arundinaceum

Flora

Entry for SORGHUM arundinaceum (Desv.) Stapf [family POACEAE]
Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Somalia
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora Somalia, Vol 4, (1995) Author: by T. A. Cope [updated by M. Thulin 2008]
Names
SORGHUM arundinaceum (Desv.) Stapf [family POACEAE], (1917). Fig. 147.
SORGHUM aethiopicum (Hack.) Stapf [family POACEAE], (1917).
SORGHUM lanceolatum Stapf [family POACEAE], (1917).
SORGHUM verticilliflorum (Steud.) Stapf [family POACEAE], (1917).
SORGHUM somaliense Snowden [family POACEAE], (1955);. type: N1, “Burao, Adad”, McKinnon 274 (K holo.).
Information
Annual or short-lived perennial without rhizomes, up to 4 m high, the nodes glabrous or pubescent. Panicle lanceolate to broadly spreading, 10–60 cm long; primary branches compound, ultimately bearing racemes of 2–7 spikelet-pairs. Sessile spikelet narrowly ovate to elliptic, 4–9 mm long; lower glume glabrescent to white-pubescent, sometimes tomentose or fulvously pubescent; upper lemma awnless or with an awn 5–30 mm long. Pedicelled spikelet linear to lanceolate, male or barren, smaller than the sessile.
Range
N1–3; S1–3 throughout Africa, extending eastwards to Australia.
Altitude range
50–1300 m.
Distribution
SOMALIA Hemming 2249; Gillett & Beckett 23566; Hansen & Heemstra 6309; Thulin & Bashir Mohamed 6984; Rose Innes & Trump 936; Kazmi 5189.
Notes
Makadeey (Som.). Chiovenda (1932) recorded S. virgatum (Hack.) Stapf from S3, but this seems to have been in error. The species is part of the S. arundinaceum complex, but seems to be the only one worth retaining as distinct. It has a narrowly lanceolate sessile spikelet and a narrow, scanty panicle. S. halepense (L.) Pers. has also been listed for Somalia, but all records refer to material from Ethiopia (Ogaden).

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