en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorghum
1 correction found
The first species to be domesticated was bicolor; it had tight husks that had to be removed forcibly. Around 4,000 years ago, this spread to the Indian subcontinent; around 3,000 years ago it reached West Africa. Four other species evolved through cultivation to have larger grains and to become free-threshing, making harvests easier and more productive.
This misstates sorghum taxonomy: bicolor, caudatum, durra, guinea, and kafir are races within the single species Sorghum bicolor, not separate species.
Full reasoning
Modern taxonomic sources treat cultivated sorghum as one species, Sorghum bicolor (specifically S. bicolor subsp. bicolor), which is subdivided into five interfertile races: Bicolor, Kafir, Caudatum, Durra, and Guinea. That means the article's wording is wrong in two places:
- "The first species to be domesticated was bicolor" — bicolor is not a separate species here; it is one of the races within cultivated Sorghum bicolor.
- "Four other species evolved through cultivation" — the domesticated forms named here are not separate species either; they are races (or sub-races) within the same species.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's biology document states that domesticated sorghum is S. bicolor subsp. bicolor and that it is divided into five interfertile races: Bicolor, Kafir, Caudatum, Durra, and Guinea. A recent review in Genetic architecture and molecular regulation of sorghum domestication likewise says cultivated sorghum is classified into the same five basic races. So the historical domestication discussion may be broadly about diversification within cultivated sorghum, but calling those forms separate species is taxonomically incorrect.
2 sources
- The Biology of Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench (Sorghum) - Canadian Food Inspection Agency
The subspecies bicolor includes the domesticated sorghum used for grain. It is divided based on floral morphology into five interfertile races (Bicolor, Kafir, Caudatum, Durra, and Guinea) that can produce 10 intermediate races.
- Genetic architecture and molecular regulation of sorghum domestication
According to the simplified morphological characteristics of the spikelet and head type, cultivated sorghum can be classified into five basic races: bicolor, guinea, caudatum, kafir, and durra.