Broom corn (English spelling)

Japanese: ホウキモロコシ(箒蜀黍) - ホウキモロコシ（英語表記）broom corn

An annual grass of the grass family cultivated for its ears as brooms and brushes. A variety of sorghum. Native to tropical Africa, sorghum has long been cultivated in Africa and Asia, where its kernels are used as food and fodder, and its stems and leaves as fodder. It grows to a height of 2-4m, and produces ears at the end of the stem in summer. The ear has about 10 nodes on a thick stem, from which 5-6 branches (primary rachis branches) radiate. Further branches (secondary rachis branches) radiate from each node, and then branch out (tertiary rachis branches), with several thousand flowers per ear. Based on the length of these rachis branches, it can be divided into several types, such as dense-ear type, diffuse-ear type, and broom type (single-ear type), but broom corn has particularly long rachis branches, which are all the same length at the ends.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

穂を箒やブラシとして利用するために栽培されるイネ科の一年草。モロコシの1変種。モロコシは熱帯アフリカ原産で，古くからアフリカ，アジア地域で栽培され，子実を食用や飼料に，茎葉を飼料にする。草丈2～4mで，夏に茎の先に穂をつける。穂は，太い軸に節が10ほどあり，その各節から5～6本の枝(一次枝梗)が放射状に出る。さらにそこから枝(二次枝梗)が対に出て，枝分れして(三次枝梗)，1穂に数千個の花がつく。この枝梗の長さから，密穂型や開散穂型，箒型(片穂型)などいくつかの型に分けられるが，ホウキモロコシはとくに枝梗が長く，しかも各枝梗の先がそろった長さとなる。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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