With fonio as our millet of the month this August, we'll also discuss some other species in the same genus, Digitaria, that are or have been used for food. A casual search for "Digitaria" on the Native American Ethnobotany Database at http://naeb.brit.org came up with an unexpected result: Apparently the Hopi people in what is now Arizona made use of Digitaria cognata grains for food (the NAEB database calls it a staple). This information traces back to a single source from 1891, published in 1940. I've found no other sources. This one uses an old botanic designation, Leptoloma cognatum. (I add an easily accessible link below the reference; it's also on JSTOR, for those who have or want to register for access): Vestal, Paul A, 1940, Notes on a Collection of Plants from the Hopi Indian Region of Arizona Made by J. G. Owens in 1891, Botanical Museum Leaflets (Harvard University) 8(8):153-168, page 158 https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/7811988#page/184/mode/1up This item has only the following information (copy-pasted from the JSTOR holding) without any discussion - in fact, the reference includes only such short descriptions: Leptoloma cognatum ( Schuttes ) Chase in Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 19 (1906) 192. Panicům cognatum Schultes in Roemer & Schultes Syst. Veg. Mant. 2 (1824) 235. Panicům autumnale Bosc ex Sprengel Syst. Veg. 1 (1825) 320. Fall Witchgrass. Bá-du-sha-ka. "Grind seed into meal." In a foray into what looks like a very meticulous Hopi dictionary, as much as a non-speaker can say such a thing, the closest I could find was the following, altho the habitat implied by the definition doesn't necessarily correspond with the habitat description given by USDA, as linked below (NB- the orthography of the version of Hopi that is the focus of this dictionary does not include "b." so "p" and one pronunciation of "v" are as close as one gets): paatusaqa, n. sg., grass that grows near water - kuyta. The water grass is sprouting up. paa-tusaqa [water grass] Source: Hopi dictionary = Hopìikwa lavàytutuveni : a Hopi-English dictionary of the Third Mesa dialect with an English-Hopi finder list and a sketch of Hopi grammar. (Compiled by the Hopi Dictionary Project.) University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 1998. https://archive.org/details/hopidictionaryho0000unse/ Digitaria cognata is native to North America. English common names for it include fall witchgrass, as noted in the Vestal / Owens source above, and Carolina crabgrass. Three sources on this species follow: * USDA,Natural Resources Conservation Service, Plants: Digitaria cognata (Schult.) Pilg. https://plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=dico6 (curiously, the distribution map does not include Arizona or any adjacent state; the Vester / Owens source is not among those cited) * USDA Plant Fact Sheet (linked from the above) https://plants.usda.gov/DocumentLibrary/factsheet/pdf/fs_dico6.pdf * Native Plant Trust (mentions the Hopi, based probably on the above references, and uses the same distro map as USDA) https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/digitaria/cognata/ For more on the Hopi, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hopi is a good starting point. A quick note from personal experience interfacing botanical descriptions that include names in local languages, and dictionaries in those languages, such as I did here and earlier with 'anki for Echinochloa crus-galli in Mohave. From extensive work on the Fulfulde language of West Africa, I frequently found that botanists would naturally be precise about a species, but add local names as they heard them, while linguists and lexicographers would be precise on the pronunciation and orthography, but often give only a general description of the plant. Cross-indexing the two is sometimes apparent, and sometimes needs more work, but also requires some caution. In any event, linking these two domains of knowledge is useful for any further research on the uses and value of various plants among people who know (or knew) them well. Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance