Michigan is at the northern limit of the climate which species of Sorghum can endure. We have only a few collections, some somewhat ambiguous as to their status in the flora.
Several species and varieties of Sorghum have long been cultivated, especially in the southern states, for silage, oil, wax, juice, and seeds. The foliage may produce enough hydrocyanic acid, especially late in the season or after frost, to be noxious to livestock.
1. Pediceled spikelet elliptic-lanceolate, somewhat shorter than sessile spikelet; sessile spikelet usually spread open by the very turgid grain at maturity (fall); spikelets not disarticulating from pedicels at maturity; leaf blades mostly over 2 cm broad; panicle very dense, compact, the main axis usually ± hairy; fibrous rooted, lacking elongated rhizomes.
1. Pediceled spikelet lanceolate, slightly longer than sessile spikelet; sessile spikelet enclosing grain at maturity; spikelets at maturity disarticulating neatly from cup-shaped summit of pedicels; leaf blades usually not over 2 (–3) cm broad; panicle ± open, the main axis not hairy (may be scabrous); perennials with long-creeping rhizomes.
MICHIGAN FLORA ONLINE. A. A. Reznicek, E. G. Voss, & B. S. Walters. February 2011. University of Michigan. Web. April 18, 2019. https://michiganflora.net/genus.aspx?id=Sorghum.