Common millet
Panicum miliaceum
Leaf blade
10-20 cm in length and 6-15 mm wide. Leaf blade can be covered with hairs especially on the lower surface.
Auricles
Absent
Importance
Annual cultivated grass grown for fodder and bird seed, also grown as a crop for human food and is an important subsistence crop on marginal soils in parts of Africa and Asia. Dehusked grains are cooked like rice or ground up and used for porridge. In the UK selected species of millet are included in cover crops where it is valued for game and wildlife. The growing of game cover crops may increase the occurrence of this species.
Description
Annual plants which can grow from 20 - 100 cm in height with dense panicles up to 30 cm long, drooping at maturity.
Ligule
Membranous ligule (1-3 mm) surrounded with a ring of hairs.
Common millet young plant.
Common millet.
Common millet flower head.
Common millet flower head. © Blackthorn arable.
Common millet young plant. © Blackthorn arable.
Common millet ligule. © Blackthorn arable.
Common millet ligule. © Blackthorn arable.
