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Sorghum halepense; photograph (c) Texas Bird Family, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Texas Bird Family, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-24

Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers.

Johnson grass; Aleppo grass; Egyptian millet; Evergreen millet

Poaceae · Algeria, Egypt +35

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Sorghum halepense, photograph (c) Sam Kieschnick, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sorghum halepense, photograph (c) Sam Kieschnick, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sorghum halepense, photograph (c) 祐, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sorghum halepense, photograph (c) CK2AZ, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sorghum halepense, photograph (c) CK2AZ, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sorghum halepense, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 94 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
1.9°C
Record low -2.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
31°C
Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
627mm
7 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
17–50DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes November to February, read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Johnson grass or Johnsongrass, Sorghum halepense, is a plant in the grass family, Poaceae, native to Asia and northern Africa. The plant has been introduced to all continents except Antarctica, and most larger islands and archipelagos. It reproduces by rhizomes and seeds.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Johnson grass", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (475 mm of 624 mm) falls in November to February, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 12.9 °C against a yearly mean of 18.8 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: May to August.

Rain

624 mm in the median year at the habitat, 475 mm of it November to February. Wettest month January at 155 mm, driest month August at 1 mm; 4 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 500 mm to 1,532 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 627 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 624 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 17 to 50 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 50).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 1.9 °C, the absolute minimum -2.9 °C, 31 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 43.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 6.5 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -0.5 °C to 10.4 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 30.5 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 1.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 56 to 60% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -322 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Sorghum halepense through the yearWarmest month August, mean daily high 31 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 6.5 °C; 624 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°50°frost43.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-2.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 17–50RH 56–60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 43 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C15 / 6–1716 / 6–1718 / 10–2022 / 15–2526 / 19–2829 / 23–3130 / 26–3331 / 26–3330 / 23–3226 / 18–2921 / 12–2317 / 8–19
Night °C7 / -1–107 / -1–119 / 2–1212 / 6–1515 / 11–1718 / 15–2021 / 18–2321 / 18–2319 / 14–2217 / 9–2012 / 4–168 / 1–12
Rain mm155 / 44–213114 / 39–16769 / 42–11627 / 16–939 / 5–872 / 1–892 / 1–901 / 1–844 / 2–11235 / 20–11584 / 42–177122 / 51–208
DLI19 / 10–2024 / 16–2633 / 23–3441 / 31–4247 / 37–4750 / 40–5048 / 41–5045 / 36–4638 / 28–3929 / 19–3021 / 11–2317 / 8–19
RH %60 / 57–6359 / 56–6258 / 55–6156 / 53–6056 / 53–6157 / 52–6256 / 52–6258 / 52–6258 / 54–6058 / 54–6057 / 54–6359 / 56–64
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 43 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (44 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1137:4312 (33.125, 35.625). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -2.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 1.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 43.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 43 distinct grid cells holding 44 of the 45 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1137:4312 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 33.00_35.625, lapse-corrected -322 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 70 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeAlgeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Madeira, Chad, Kazakhstan, Kirgizistan, Turkmenistan, Tadzhikistan, Uzbekistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Afghanistan, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Turkey, Gulf States, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Laos, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam · introduced: Great Britain, Ireland, Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Baleares, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Romania, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Baltic States, Krym, Central European Russia, North European Russia, Ukraine, Azores, Benin, Guinea, Senegal, Zaïre, Sudan, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Cape Provinces, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, St.Helena, Comoros, Madagascar, Réunion, Buryatiya, Primorye, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Japan, Korea, Nansei-shoto, Ogasawara-shoto, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Borneo, New Guinea, Solomon Is., New Zealand North, New Zealand South, Fiji, Niue, New Caledonia, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Cook Is., Easter Is., Marquesas, Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Hawaii, Ontario, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, District of Columbia, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Aruba, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., French Guiana, Guyana, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Galápagos, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina South, Argentina Northwest, Chile Central, Chile North, Chile South, Desventurados Is., Paraguay, Uruguay · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker33.9, 35.517 · in the densest population, 25 records (42% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial or rhizomatous geophyte” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 60 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 44 of them in the land cells it reads, of 45 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 23 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 1273 km away. 1747 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 15 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 11053028 (Andropogon halepensis (L.) Sm., 1806): Kew's file holds it as Andropogon halepensis (L.) Brot. (synonym under Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers.); 5 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 60 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Sorghum halepense, photograph 1did not loadSorghum halepense, photograph 2did not loadSorghum halepense, photograph 3did not loadSorghum halepense, photograph 4did not loadSorghum halepense, photograph 5did not loadSorghum halepense, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Sam Kieschnick, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) 祐, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) CK2AZ, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Mandragora officinarum Mandragora officinarum Mandrake Photo: CC0, author not statedFerula tingitana Ferula tingitana Tangier Fennel Photo: CC BY, Adi PeterRicotia lunaria Ricotia lunaria Brassicaceae Photo: CC BY, Nachman bonesBiscutella didyma Biscutella didyma Mediterranean Buckler-mustard Photo: CC BY, Daniel CahenScaligeria napiformis Scaligeria napiformis Cretan Pignut Photo: CC BY, Carol Ann McCormickTeucrium creticum Teucrium creticum Cretan germander Photo: CC BY, yelena_antipova

Other Sorghum 1 in the reference

Sorghum bicolor Sorghum bicolor Great millet Photo: CC0, author not stated

Names & registers

Also known as Andropogon anatherus; Andropogon arundinaceus; Andropogon avenaceus; Andropogon crupina; Andropogon decolorans and 68 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Poaceae
Described by
(L.) Pers.
Native to
Algeria, Egypt, Libya +34
Wild records
60 in range · 23 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 5 records of GBIF's key 11053028, Andropogon halepensis (L.) Sm., 1806 (Kew's file holds it as Andropogon halepensis (L.) Brot. (synonym under Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers.)): GBIF occurrence search API; 34 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (22 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium, 11 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 33.00_35.625, lapse-corrected -322 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers. (the item's: IPNI 422140-1, POWO 422139-1)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22Wikipedia's article Johnson grass, the English article of this species' Wikidata item (Q858360)
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 263 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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