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Sorghum halepense

Common name:	Johnson Grass	Family:	Gramineae
Author:	(L.)Pers.	Botanical references:	50, 200
Synonyms:	Sorghum miliaceaum ((Roxb.)Snowden.), Holcus halapensis ((L.)Brot.)
Known Hazards:	The pollen can induce hay fever[269].
Range:	Europe to Asia.
Habitat:	Dry open habitats[50].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Andropogon controversus[G] Andropogon halepensis[G] Andropogon halepensis var. anatherus[G] Andropogon miliaceus[G] Andropogon miliformis[G] Holcus halepensis[B,G,P] Holcus halepensis var. miliformis[G] S. controversum[G] S. miliaceum[G,P] S. miliaceum var. parvispicula[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Johnson Grass [B,FEIS,L], Johnsongrass [P], Sorghum [L], Wilde Sorgo [D],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Cyperales. Renamed to Poaceae -- Grass family
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: California, Colorado, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, New South Wales, Western Australia, Northen Territory (Aust).

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 2m by 1.2m at a fast rate. It is hardy to zone 8. It is in flower from August to October, and the seeds ripen from September to October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Wind. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Seed.

Seed - raw or cooked. It can be used whole in a similar manner to rice or millet, or it can be ground into a flour and used as a cereal in making bread, cakes etc[46, 105].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Demulcent; Diuretic.

The seed is demulcent and diuretic[240].

Other Uses

Biomass.

The plant is a potential source of biomass with yields of up to 19 tonnes per hectare[269].

Cultivation details

An easily grown plant, it succeeds in ordinary garden soil[1]. It is adapted to a wide range of soil types, including upland clay, but seems to do best on porous fertile lowlands and river bottoms[269]. It does well on heavy clay soils of relatively high fertility and water holding capacity[269]. Temperatures below 13°C tend to inhibit flowering[269]. For best results, it requires a warm sunny position[1]. The plant is reported to tolerate an annual precipitation in the range of 9 to 429cm, an annual temperature in the range of 8.3 to 27.8°C and a pH of 4.9 to 8.2[269].
This species is not very winter hardy, tolerating occasional temperatures down to about -5°c so long as the soil is not too wet. It is best adapted to warm humid summer-rainfall areas in the subtropics, not growing well in strictly tropical areas[269].
A very aggressive plant[46], spreading freely at the roots and only suitable for large areas[233]. It is a parent of the cultivated Sorghum (S. bicolor)[171].
Classified as a short day plant, it does not flower if the daylight hours exceed about 13 hours per day[269].

Propagation

Seed - sow April in a greenhouse and only just cover the seed. Germination should take place within 2 weeks. Prick out the seedlings into individual pots once they are large enough to handle and plant them out after the last expected frosts.
Division in mid spring as the plant comes into new growth. Larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found it best to pot up the smaller divisions and grow them on in a lightly shaded position in a cold frame, planting them out once they are well established in the summer.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A&M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[FAO] Data (Description, Habitat, Location and Use) from the FAO's Grassland Index.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HEC] Use, Folk Medicine, etc. from Handbook of Energy Crops by James Duke
[FEIS] Data (Uses, Ecology, Fire Effects) from the USDA Forestry Service Fire Effects Information System.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[50] ? Flora Europaea Cambridge University Press 1964
An immense work in 6 volumes (including the index). The standard reference flora for europe, it is very terse though and with very little extra information. Not for the casual reader.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[171] Hill. A. F. Economic Botany. The Maple Press 1952
Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some a bit of detail about the plants it does cover.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[233] Thomas. G. S. Perennial Garden Plants J. M. Dent & Sons, London. 1990 ISBN 0 460 86048 8
A concise guide to a wide range of perennials. Lots of cultivation guides, very little on plant uses.

[240] Chopra. R. N., Nayar. S. L. and Chopra. I. C. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants (Including the Supplement). Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi. 1986
Very terse details of medicinal uses of plants with a wide range of references and details of research into the plants chemistry. Not for the casual reader.

[269] Duke. J. Handbook of Energy Crops - 1983
Published only on the Internet, excellent information on a wide range of plants.

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Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
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