Sorghum versicolor

Andersson

Black seed wild sorghum

PoaceaeSeeds/Nuts

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(c) Duncan McKenzie, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), uploaded by Duncan McKenzie

iNaturalist · cc-by-nc
(c) Riaan Robbeson, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC)

What to Eat

Edible parts: Seeds, Cereal, Stalks

The seeds are eaten and fermented for beer. The stalks are consumed as a famine food.

Where to Find It

It is a tropical plant. It grows in wooded grassland and on waterlogged soils. It grows between 30-1,450 m altitude.

Africa, Botswana, East Africa, Eswatini, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, Southern Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, Zimbabwe,

Countries: Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Benin, Botswana, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Comoros, Liberia, Lesotho, Libya, Morocco, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Tunisia, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How to Identify

An annual millet grass. It grows 2.5 m high. It has a ring of long spreading silky white hairs. The leaf blade is 10-30 cm long by 15 mm wide. It is hairy on both surfaces. The flower panicle is 25 cm long. The spikelets are 6 mm long.

Names & Synonyms

Mulu, Nhangaia, Zonya

Andropogon serratus var. versicolor (Andersson) Hack.Sorghum purpureo-sericeum var. trinervatum Chiov.

References (3)

Flora Zambesiaca. http://apps.kew.org/efloras
Fowler, D. G., 2007, Zambian Plants: Their Vernacular Names and Uses. Kew. p 73
Long, C., 2005, Swaziland's Flora - siSwati names and Uses http://www.sntc.org.sz/flora/

What to Eat

Where to Find It

How to Identify

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