PlantPeers
Back to Catalog
Panicum miliaceum
Poaceae FAMILY

Panicum miliaceum

Panicum miliaceum

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitAnnual
Growth—

Panicum milliaceum was originally a plant of the seasonally dry subtropics and tropics of India, though it is now cultivated in many regions of the world from the temperate zone to the tropics. The plant has a wide adaptability and can be grown in climates which are too hot and dry, and on soils which are too shallow and poor for successful cultivation of other cereal crops[1]. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 20 - 32°c, but can tolerate 15 - 45°c[2]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 500 - 750mm, but tolerates 200 - 1,000mm[2]. The plant is best adapted to areas of low or medium relative air humidity[2]. Requires a moderately fertile well-drained soil in full sun[3]. Most soils are suitable, except coarse sand[1]. Succeeds in ordinary garden soil[4]. Tolerates heat and also drought when it is established[4]. Prefers a pH in the range 6 - 6.5, tolerating 5.2 - 8.2[2]. The plant has become widely naturalized and is often a weed in areas outside its native range[1, 5]. The plant is normally harvested 55 - 90 days from sowing the seed, but it may require up to 280 days depending on growing conditions[2]. The plant is ready for harvest when the seed has a moisture content of 14 - 15%. Delayed harvesting should be avoided, as the seed shatters easily if allowed to become too mature. Premature harvesting, on the other hand, results in reduced yield and quality. Plants are usually harvested by pulling them up by the roots, and they are threshed immediately to avoid grain loss[1]. In India, seed yields of 450 - 650 kg/ha can be obtained from unirrigated crops, generally this can rise to 1 - 2 tonnes/ha when the crop is irrigated[2]. The plant photosynthesize by a more efficient method than most plants. Called the 'C4 carbon-fixation pathway', this process is particularly efficient at high temperatures, in bright sunlight and under dry conditions[2].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a greenhouse and only just cover the seed. Germination should take place within a week. Prick out the seedlings into trays or individual pots and plant them out after the last expected frosts[3, PFAF]. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Panicum+miliaceum>

Pollinators

Wind

References

  1. [1]Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. — http://www.prota.org ↩︎An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa.
  2. [2]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  3. [3]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · 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.
  4. [4]RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 — F. Chittendon. · Oxford University Press · 1951 · ISBN - ↩︎Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaced in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [ 200 ]).
  5. [5]Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk — http://www.hear.org/pier/scientificnames/index.html ↩︎A very good website detailing weed species that have been introduced into the Pacific Islands.
  6. [6]Flora of the British Isles. — Clapham, Tutin and Warburg. · Cambridge University Press · 1962 · ISBN - ↩︎A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.
  7. [7]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  8. [8]The Oxford Book of Food Plants. — Harrison. S. Wallis. M. Masefield. G. · Oxford University Press · 1975 · ISBN - ↩︎Good drawings of some of the more common food plants from around the world. Not much information though.
  9. [9]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  10. [10]KemperCentreForHomeGardeningPlantFinder — Missouri Botanical Garden · http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/ ↩︎Basic cultivation details, plant uses, habitat etc for several thousand species of plants, mainly from the temperate zone.
  11. [11]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
  12. [12]Medicinal Plants of China — Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. · Reference Publications, Inc. · 1985 · ISBN 0-917256-20-4 ↩︎Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject.
  13. [13]The Plant Wealth of Iraq. — Chakravarty. H. L. ↩︎It is surprising how many of these plants can be grown in Britain. A very readable book on the useful plants of Iraq.
  14. [14]Flora of the USSR. — Komarov. V. L. · Israel Program for Scientific Translation · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org · ISBN - ↩︎An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  15. [PFAF]Plants for a Future — pfaf.org ↩︎