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Sorghum versicolor Andersson [family GRAMINEAE]

Date Updated: 26 July 2007

Herbarium
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (K)
Collection
Flora Zambesiaca
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
FZ, Vol 10, Part 4, (2002) Author: T. A. Cope
Names
Sorghum purpureo-sericeum var. trinervatum Chiov. [family GRAMINEAE], Fl. Somala 2: 439 (1932). Type from Somalia. Sorghum versicolor Andersson [family GRAMINEAE], in Peters, Naturw. Reise Mossambique, Bot.: 563 (1864). —Stapf in Prain, F.T.A. 9: 138 (1917). —Stent & Rattray in Proc. & Trans. Rhodesia Sci. Assoc. 32: 8 (1933). —Sturgeon in Rhodesia Agric. J. 51: 15 (1954). —Chippindall in Meredith, Grasses & Pastures S. Africa: 459 (1955). —Bogdan, A Revised List of Kenya Grasses: 55 (1958). —Jackson & Wiehe, Annot. Check List Nyasal. Grass.: 60 (1958). —Napper, Grasses Tanganyika: 96 (1965). —Wild in Kirkia 5: 55 (1965). —Hood, A Guide to the Grasses of Zambia: 58 (1967). —Simon in Kirkia 8: 20, 54 (1971). —Hall-Martin & Drummond in Kirkia 12: 159 (1980). —Clayton & Renvoize in F.T.E.A., Gramineae: 729 (1982). —Gibbs Russell et al., Grasses South. Africa [Mem. Bot. Surv. S. Africa No. 58]: 302 (1990). —Setshogo in Kirkia 17: 139 (2001). TAB. 10. Type: Mozambique Z: Boror, Peters (whereabouts uncertain). Andropogon serratus var. versicolor Andersson Hack. [family GRAMINEAE], in A. & C. de Candolle, Monogr. Phan. 6: 522 (1889).
Information
Annual; culms up to 250 cm high, slender; nodes with a conspicuous ring of long, spreading, silky white hairs; leaf sheaths glabrous except for a beard of long cilia at the mouth; ligule a glabrous membrane up to 3 mm long; leaf laminas 10–30 cm × up to 15 mm, hairy on both surfaces or occasionally glabrous on the superior. Panicle up to 25 cm long, open; branches simple; racemes 3–7-jointed; rhachis internodes and pedicels long-pilose. Sessile spikelet (5)5.5(7) mm long, elliptic-oblong; callus barbate with pallid to reddish hairs; glumes coriaceous, glossy; inferior glume reddish-brown to black, pilose on the back; superior glume pilose above the middle, glabrous and shiny below, tapering to a fine apex; inferior floret empty, its lemma c. 4 mm long and ciliate on the margins; superior floret bisexual; lemma c. 3 mm long, deeply lobed, ciliate on the lobes and margins, awned; awn c. (25)40 mm long, twisted, scabrid along the spiral; palea 0. Pedicelled spikelet neuter, (3)4(5) mm long, lanceolate, smaller than the sessile spikelet, greenish; inferior glume membranous, pilose on the back; superior glume membranous, glabrous to scabrid.
Habitat
In deciduous bushland or wooded grassland, commonly on waterlogged soils or black clays
Range
Eastern, central and southern Africa
Altitude range
30–1450 m. 1450 30
Distribution
Zimbabwe E Chimanimani Distr., Mutambara C.L. (Tribal Trust Land) on main road near Lisnacloon Farm, 1000 m, 26.iii.1969, A.O. Crook 850 (K; PRE).Zimbabwe S Masvingo (Fort Victoria), Victoria Reserve Zone, 19.iii.1956, Cleghorn 185 (BM; PRE).Malawi C Salima Distr., Chitala, 8.iv.1952, Jackson 756 (K).Malawi S Zomba Distr., near Macheleni Hill, Tembenu Village, 5.iii.1978, Seyani & Patel 800 (MAL).Mozambique Z between Águas Quentes and Mutarara, 6.v.1943, Torre 5303 (LISC).Mozambique T Tete, Cahora (Cabora) Bassa, 230–330 m, 2.v.1972, Pereira & Correia 2328 (WAG).Mozambique MS Chemba, Chiou, Estação Experimental do C.I.C.A., 14.iv.1960, Lemos & Macuácua 105 (K; LISC; PRE).Mozambique GI Massingir, 19.iv.1972, Lousã & Rosa 244 (K).Mozambique M 15 km from Macaene to Machatuíne, 22.i.1948, Torre 7179 (BM; LISC).Malawi N Mzimba Distr., 40 km south of Rumphi on M1, 1220 m, 4.v.1974, Pawek 8571 (K; PRE; WAG).Mozambique N Malema Distr., Mutuáli, Estação Experimental do Instituto do Algodão, 5.iv.1962, Lemos & Marrime 318 (K; LISC; PRE).Botswana SW Kweneng Distr., c. 11 km NW of Lephepe Village, iii.1969, Kelaole 529 (K).Botswana SE 101.3 km from Shoshong on Shoshong–Serowe road, 1140 m, 1.iv.1989, Terry et al. 146 (K).Zambia E Chipata Distr., Luangwa Valley, Nsefu, Lupande R., 10.iii.1968, R. Phiri 88 (K).Zambia S Kalomo Distr., Siantambo, 7.ii.1963, B.L. Mitchell 17/63 (BM; PRE).Zimbabwe W Nkayi Distr., Gwampa Forest Reserve, ii.1956, Goldsmith 6/56 (PRE).Zimbabwe C Gweru Distr., Gweru (Gwelo) Kopje, 1430 m, 5.iii.1967, Biegel 1959 (BM; K).Botswana N Ngamiland Distr., 6 km SE of Tsao, 18.iii.1965, Wild & Drummond 7132 (BM; K; SRGH).Zambia C Mumbwa Distr., Sala Reserve, Cheta River, 26.iii.1963, Vesey-FitzGerald 4019 (SRGH).Zimbabwe N Gokwe Distr., 30 km north of Gokwe on road to Chinyenyeti, 12.iii.1963, Bingham 512 (K; PRE).
Notes
This species and S. purpureo-sericeum (from tropical Africa and Arabia) are so very similar that they may just represent variants of a single species. Differences between them mainly derive from their spikelet length (shorter in S. versicolor), their apparent inability to hybridize (Garber, op. cit.), and their different geographical distributions.
Sorghum versicolor Andersson [family GRAMINEAE]
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