Japanese millet

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Japanese millet
Japanese millet (Echinochloa frumentacea)

Japanese millet ( Echinochloa frumentacea )

Systematics
Commelinids
Order : Sweet grass (Poales)
Family : Sweet grasses (Poaceae)
Subfamily : Panicoideae
Genre : Chicken millet ( Echinochloa )
Type : Japanese millet
Scientific name
Echinochloa frumentacea
link

Japanese millet ( Echinochloa frumentacea ) also known as wheat millet , sawah millet , is a type of millet that is now mainly grown in East Asia as a food and in the USA as a fodder crop. It belongs to the sweet grass family (Poaceae). The name "Japanese millet" is actually misleading because the species is neither cultivated nor ever was in Japan. It goes back to an earlier confusion with the similar Japanese chicken millet Echinochloa esculenta grown in Japan .

Illustration of Japanese millet
Fruits of Japanese millet greatly enlarged

distribution

The Japanese millet is widespread in all tropical regions of the world (pantropical) with its origins in the Old World . Maybe she is from India.

features

The annual, herbaceous plant has sturdy, upright stalks between 1 and 1.5 meters high . The leaf sheaths and leaf blades are soft and hairless. The leaves reach between 15 and 40 centimeters long and between 1 and 2.4 centimeters wide. Their wavy edges are thickened with cartilage. The ligules are not developed.

The inflorescence is a dense, strong, elongated panicle , which can measure up to 20 centimeters. The main axis is rough and hairy. The 1 to 3 centimeters long, closely standing and sometimes overlapping panicle branches are wavy. The greenish to purple-colored, awnless and crowded spikelets are broad-oval and between 2.5 and 3.5 millimeters long. The glume are shorter than the spikelets. The caryopses are long. The flowering and fruiting time is between August and October.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 54, less often 26.

Synonyms

Synonyms of this kind are:

  • Oplismenus frumentaceus Kunth , Révis. grim. 1 (1829) 45
  • Panicum crus-galli var. Frumentaceum Trim. , Cat. Ceyl. Pl. (1885) 104
  • Echinochloa crus-galli var. Frumentacea W.F.Wight , Cent. Dict. Sup. (1909) 810
  • Echinochloa crus-galli subsp. colona var. edulis Honda , Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 37 (1923) 123
  • Echinochloa colonum var. Frumentaceum Ridl. , Fl. Times. Penins. 5 (1925) 223
  • Panicum crus-galli var. Edule (Hitchc.) Thell. in Hegi, Ill. Fl. Mitt.-Eur., 2nd ed., 1 (1935) 264
  • Panicum frumentaceum Roxb. , Fl. Ind. 1 (1820) 307, non Salisb. (1796)
  • Echinochloa crus-galli edulis Hitchc. , USDA Bull. 772 (1920) 238

use

In Asia, Africa, the western United States and Canada, Japanese millet is occasionally cultivated as a tasty pasture and fodder grass (hay) and as bird food. Often it is planted on freshly plowed, sandy soils to protect against erosion. In Egypt it is used to reclaim saline soils. The grain grows very quickly. It only takes six weeks from sowing to harvest. In Egypt, India, Kashmir, and Sikkim, the peeled grain is cooked like rice. Sometimes Japanese millet is also used to make beer.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Mansfeld's World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops
  2. ↑ Rafaël Govaerts (ed.): Echinochloa frumentacea. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved November 21, 2016.
  3. ↑ Description of the species in the Flora of China
  4. ↑ Description of the species in the Flora of Pakistan
  5. ^ Tropicos. [1]

Web links

Commons : Japanese Millet  - Collection of images, videos and audio files