Panicum miliaceum

Botanical Description

Panicum miliaceum is a shallow-rooted, erect, clump-forming annual grass growing 30 - 100cm tall[ 418 Title Ecocrop Publication Author Website http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available. ]. The plant is usually free-tillering with a slender inflorescence up to 45cm long[ 418 Title Ecocrop Publication Author Website http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available. ]. Broom millet is a grain of ancient cultivation, probably domesticated first in central and eastern Asia, where it has been cultivated for more than 5,000 years. Its cultivation spread from there through Europe, where it could produce a crop in the colder northerly latitudes, and also to Africa and the Americas. It has been a staple food in many areas, but its cultivation has declined in more recent times, especially after the large-scale introduction of potato and maize. Nowadays its cultivation for human consumption takes place mainly in eastern and central Asia, and to a lesser extent in eastern Europe (Russia, Danube region) and from western Asia to Pakistan and India (Bihar, Andhra Pradesh)[ 299 Title Protabase - Plant Resources of Tropical Africa. Publication Author Website http://www.prota.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent on-line database with detailed information on over 3,200 species of useful plants of Africa. ].