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Genus: Sorghum
(Sorghum genus) Life
> eukaryotes >
Archaeoplastida >
Chloroplastida
>
Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants)
> Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants)
> Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering
plants) > Monocotyledons > Order: Poales
> Family: Poaceae
There are about 24 species worldwide (tropics and subtropics
of the Old World) of which two are native to southern Africa and one is
naturalised. Sorghum bicolor (Sorghum) is an important African crop
and the species in its wild form is native to southern Africa. Five additional
species are cultivated in southern Africa.
Species native to southern Africa
List from
Plants
of Southern Africa - an Online Checklist (SANBI) and
Flora of Zimbabwe.
Species naturalised in southern Africa
List from
Plants
of Southern Africa - an Online Checklist (SANBI).
Sorghum halepense (Johnson
grass, Aleppo grass, Johnsongras) Native to the Mediterranean region. A problem
weed in cultivated lands. Its system of rhizomes makes it difficult to
eradicate. It is a declared
Category 2 invasive plant in South Africa. |
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Other species, cultivated in southern Africa
List from Glen (2002).
Sorghum caffrorum |
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Sorghum caudatum |
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Sorghum dochna |
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Sorghum mellitum |
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Sorghum membranaceum |
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Publications
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Fish, L. 2003. Poaceae. In Germishuizen, G. & Meyer, N.L.
(eds), Plants of southern Africa: an annotated checklist. Strelitzia 14:
1152-1194. National Botanical
Institute, Pretoria.
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