Sorghum bicolor(L.) Moench

sorghum

WFO wfo-0000900184 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Sorghum bicolor, photographed by Clay
fig. a Clay, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-09-06 / obs. 155728778
Sorghum bicolor, photographed by Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez
fig. b Oscar Alejandro Morales Juárez, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 148618703
Sorghum bicolor, photographed by Ira Gershenhorn
fig. c Ira Gershenhorn, CC0 1.0 / obs. 147962458
Sorghum bicolor, photographed by Roz Hunter
fig. d Roz Hunter, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 146687455
Sorghum bicolor, photographed by Jake Rehage
fig. e Jake Rehage, CC0 1.0 / obs. 102560801
Sorghum bicolor, photographed by saltyhiker
fig. f saltyhiker, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 101528176
Sorghum bicolor, photographed by 國立臺灣博物館
fig. g 國立臺灣博物館, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 82971475
Sorghum bicolor, photographed by i_c_riddell
fig. h i_c_riddell, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 106540683

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 53 botanical countries

Regions where Sorghum bicolor is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Free State, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Réunion, Rodrigues, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan-South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, East Himalaya, India, West Himalaya AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaBurundiCameroonCape ProvincesCentral African RepublicChadCongoDR CongoEgyptEquatorial GuineaEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaFree StateGabonGambiaGhanaGuineaGulf of Guinea Is.Ivory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalLiberiaMadagascarMalawiMaliMauritaniaMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNigeriaNorthern ProvincesRwandaSenegalSierra LeoneSomaliaSudan-South SudanTanzaniaTogoUgandaZambiaZimbabweEast HimalayaIndiaWest Himalaya Cape VerdeMauritiusRéunionRodriguesSeychelles
Native distribution of Sorghum bicolor, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Burundi BUR
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Cape Verde CVI
Central African Republic CAF
Chad CHA
Congo CON
DR Congo ZAI
Egypt EGY
Equatorial Guinea EQG
Eritrea ERI
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Free State OFS
Gabon GAB
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Gulf of Guinea Is. GGI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Liberia LBR
Madagascar MDG
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mauritania MTN
Mauritius MAU
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Niger NGR
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Réunion REU
Rodrigues ROD
Rwanda RWA
Senegal SEN
Seychelles SEY
Sierra Leone SIE
Somalia SOM
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Tanzania TAN
Togo TOG
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM
East Himalaya EHM ASIA-TROPICAL
India IND
West Himalaya WHM

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Flowering 53 in flower of 146 examined

Peak flowering in Apr. Each bar is the share of Sorghum bicolor observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 53 of 146 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 3 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 423 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Agrostis nigricans (Ruiz & Pav.) Poir.
  • Andropogon afrorum Kunth
  • Andropogon arundinaceus Willd.
  • Andropogon arundinaceus var. effusus Hack.
  • Andropogon besseri Kunth
  • Andropogon bicolor (L.) Roxb.
  • Andropogon caffrorum Kunth
  • Andropogon compactus Brot.
  • Andropogon halepensis var. astolonifer Vanderyst
  • Andropogon halepensis var. congoensis Vanderyst
  • Andropogon halepensis var. kinshasanensis Vanderyst
  • Andropogon niger (Ard.) Kunth
  • Andropogon rubens (Gaertn.) Kunth
  • Andropogon saccharatrus Kunth
  • Andropogon saccharatus (L.) Roxb.
  • Andropogon sorghum (L.) Brot.
  • Andropogon sorghum f. pallidus Chiov.
  • Andropogon sorghum subsp. abyssinicus Piper
  • Andropogon sorghum subsp. effusus (Hack.) Hitchc.
  • Andropogon sorghum subsp. sativus Hack.
  • Andropogon sorghum subsp. verticilliflorus (Steud.) Piper
  • Andropogon sorghum subsp. vogelianus Piper
  • Andropogon sorghum subvar. aristatus Hack.
  • Andropogon sorghum subvar. badius Hack.

and 399 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.