Don, and other Milleteers,

I have grown little millet (Panicum sumatrense) here in Iowa and some accessions are adapted. This is as part of the US National Plant germplasm System; 250 accessions are available for distribution. Here is a link to one with pictures:
https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/accessiondetail?id=1358456
They are annuals with smaller seeds than proso millet.

Panicum is a large genius with hundreds of species. I presume that they all have edible seeds and are more or less millets.  I like the comparison with switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) which is perennial and cultivated for conservation and as a garden ornamental. Since switchgrass is commercial it is possible to purchase large quantities of switchgrass seeds, just like a millet, and try them as food. I do not know what would happen, there could be some bad consequence that I do not know about.  The agronomy is ready to go since fields of perennial switchgrass are already planted, and managed.

Taxonomy links in the NPGS GRIN system:
Switchgrass: https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=26657
Little millet: https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=103520
Proso millet: https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=317710

I am not the curator for kodo or switchgrass since they are maintained at our sister station in Griffin, Georgia.

David Brenner     (he/him)                                                                   David.Brenner@USDA.GOV
                                                                                                            Or: dbrenner@iastate.edu
Plant Introduction Station                                                                   phone 515-294-6786
Iowa State University                                                                           fax   515-294-4880
716 Farm House Lane, Ames, IA  50011-1051                
USA  

https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/search.aspx?

Curator of: Amaranthus, Celosia, Chenopodium, Coronilla, Dalea, Galega, Melilotus, Perilla, Portulaca, Spinacia, miscellaneous Umbelliferae, and the millets: Echinochloa, Panicum, and Setaria.

NC7 Regional Project in the US National Plant Germplasm System

From: Collab <collab-bounces@lists.millets2023.space> on behalf of Don Osborn <don@milletsalliance.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 14, 2022 8:07 PM
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Subject: [EXTERNAL: Suspicious Link][Collab] Little millet & kodo millet in North America?
 
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A question came up in the NAMA meeting on Nov. 17, concerning whether anyone in North America is growing either little millet (Panicum sumatrense) or kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum). I'll offer answers here and add some info of possible interest.

The short answers are no - neither little millet nor kodo millet are grown as crops in North America. Longer answers follow:

LITTLE MILLET (not to be confused with switchgrass)

It may be that there is no little millet as a plant at all in North America.  (It is a native to, and domesticated in, Asia.) Confusing the matter a bit is that a related species that is native to North America, Panicum virgatum (called a switchgrass) has evidently at some time been given the synonym P. sumatrense./1 /2  However, it is not the same. P. virgatum is grown as an ornamental, with some discussion of its value for biofuel. I don't find any information on whether its seeds were ever used as food in the distant past.

It is interesting that two other relatives of little millet in the Panicum genus are grown as food in North America, namely proso millet (P. miliaceum) and Sonoran panic grass or millet (P. hiericaule), altho the latter only on a very small scale.

KODO MILLET (aka ricegrass paspalum)

On the other hand, kodo millet, better known in the US (and Canada?) by names such as ricegrass paspalum, is present in North America, but it is not grown as a crop. In fact, it has been "declared a 'noxious or quarantine weed' in at least ten states" in the US, and as "a noxious weed by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA-APHIS)."/3

Kodo is a native of Africa, but a crop mainly in South Asia. I have no info on how it came to North America, but might it have been from seeds brought during the slave trade?/4 /5

Kodo appears to be the only member of the Paspalum genus to be cultivated for its grains. Another member of this genus, P. vaginatum, aka seashore paspalum, has received attention as a resilient turfgrass. A cultivar of this species is being used in the fields at the current World Cup in Qatar /6

Don





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