Panicum turgidum Forssk.

Desert grass (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Poales > Poaceae > Panicum

Characteristics

A grass that keeps growing from year to year. It forms dense tangled clumps. It grows 0.3-1 m high. The stems have angular branching. The nodes or joints are swollen. There are empty leaf sheaths at the nodes. The leaves are narrow and with sharp points. The plant can break off at ground level and blow in the wind.
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Perennial up to 1·2 m. high, with stout roots, and sturdy stems branching untidily in all directions
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination anemogamy
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) 0.95 - 1.25
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c4

Environment

A tropical plant. It can grow on clay soils or sand dunes and sandy plains. It grows in the desert. It is drought resistant. It grows in areas with an annual rainfall between 30-250 mm. It can grow in alkaline soils. It can grow in arid places.
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Dry sandy soils. Sandy deserts and semi-deserts, on dunes and seashores, and in sandy pockets in rocky outcrops, at elevations up to 3,200 metres.
Dry sandy soils.
Light 7-9
Soil humidity 1-6
Soil texture 3-5
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

Usage

The seeds are eaten fried or mixed with other grains and used in bread making. They are also used for a soup or porridge. It is used in kreb a grain mixture eaten in Chad.
Uses animal food environmental use fodder food fuel gene source material medicinal social use wood
Edible roots seeds shoots
Therapeutic use Eye (unspecified), Wound (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Can be grown by seedlings.
Mode seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) 25 - 35
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Panicum turgidum unspecified picture

Distribution

Panicum turgidum world distribution map, present in Benin, Congo, Cyprus, Djibouti, Algeria, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Morocco, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Senegal, Singapore, Somalia, Chad, Tunisia, and Yemen

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:413428-1
WFO ID wfo-0000886725
COL ID 4CFHH
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID -
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR) Link

Synonyms

Panicum frutescens Panicum minutiflorum Panicum nubicum Panicum neglectum Panicum turgidum