Sorghum (genus)

Sorghum (Template:IPAc-en) or broomcorn is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family (Poaceae). Sorghum bicolor is grown as a cereal for human consumption and as animal fodder.

Evolution

Phylogeny

The Sorghum genus is closely related to maize within the PACMAD clade of grasses, and more distantly to the cereals of the BOP clade such as wheat and barley.<ref name="Escobar Scornavacca Cenci Guilhaumon 2011">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Taxonomy

The Sorghum genus is in the grass family, Poaceae, in the subfamily Panicoideae, in the tribe Andropogoneae – the same as maize (Zea mays), big bluestem (Andropogon gerardi), and sugarcane (Saccharum spp.). Accepted species recorded include:<ref name="TPL">Template:Cite web</ref>

Seventeen of the 25 species are native to Australia,<ref name="ITS-ndhF">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Dillon Lawrence Henry Ross 2004">Template:Cite journal</ref> with the range of some extending to Africa, Asia, Mesoamerica, and certain islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="china">Template:Cite web</ref>

External links

• Template:Cite EB1911
• "Sorghum and millets in human nutrition" FAO Report (1995) Template:Webarchive