Panicum miliaceum*

Darı

Tufted annual. Stems erect or geniculate, 50-120 cm, Leaf sheaths very rough, hispid ; blades 4-20 mm broad, upper surface loosely hairy. Panicle lax, many-branched, or ± compact, 20-30 cm. Spikelets ovate-acuminate, 4-5mm. Glumes unequal, strongly veined; lower one 3 mm, upper as long as spikelet. Lemmas of fertile floret yellow, brown, red or black in fruit, very shiny. Spikelets sessile at maturity, not breaking up. Fl. 6-9. Cultivated; also as a weed in fields, gardens and waste places.

Native of China & C. Asia; cultivated, formerly as a cereal but now mostly for fodder, and naturalised in C. & S. Europe, Mediterranean area, Caucasia and S.W. Asia.