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§1 Plant

Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers.

vernacular Johnsongrass — species · Poaceae

USDA
SOHA
GBIF
2705185
Rank
species
Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense)
Platephotograph · Harry RoseCC BY source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Graminoid
Duration
Perennial
Group
Monocot
Family
Poaceae Barnhart
Genus
Sorghum
§2a

Native status, by region

  • CAN Canada Introduced
  • HI Hawaii Introduced
  • L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
  • PB Pacific Basin (except Hawaii) Introduced
  • PR Puerto Rico Introduced
§2b

County-level range

· 872 counties across 27 states/territories
Legend Native · 0 Introduced · 872 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
Low
Shade
High
Moisture use
High
Fire
High
Salinity
Low
Anaerobic
Low
CaCO₃
Low
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-13 °F minimum
Frost-free days
165 min.
Precipitation
32–60 in/yr
pH range
5–7
Root depth
10 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Rhizomatous
Growth rate
Rapid
Lifespan
Long
Mature height
3.5 ft
Foliage texture
Coarse
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Dense
Porosity (winter)
Moderate
Flower colour
Yellow
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
Slight
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Late Summer
Seed abundance
High
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
Rapid
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
119,280
Propagation
seed, sprigs
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
High
Graze palatability
High
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
Medium
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 872 counties across 27 states/territories.

Alabama view state ↗ 36 I ▾
Arizona view state ↗ 15 I ▾
Arkansas view state ↗ 52 I ▾
Delaware view state ↗ 1 I ▾
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Florida view state ↗ 36 I ▾
Georgia view state ↗ 24 I ▾
Illinois view state ↗ 69 I ▾
Indiana view state ↗ 30 I ▾
Iowa view state ↗ 8 I ▾
Kansas view state ↗ 105 I ▾
Kentucky view state ↗ 60 I ▾
Louisiana view state ↗ 64 I ▾
Massachusetts view state ↗ 6 I ▾
Michigan view state ↗ 6 I ▾
Mississippi view state ↗ 58 I ▾
Montana view state ↗ 3 I ▾
New Hampshire view state ↗ 1 I ▾
New Jersey view state ↗ 7 I ▾
New York view state ↗ 12 I ▾
North Carolina view state ↗ 70 I ▾
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 14 I ▾
South Carolina view state ↗ 38 I ▾
Tennessee view state ↗ 45 I ▾
Vermont view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 89 I ▾
West Virginia view state ↗ 19 I ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/SOHA ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2705185 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T07:25:30Z