Each season a mass of volunteer wildflowers springs in - poppies, penstomen, bluebells daisies, arizona sun... I am always delighted to see volunteers in the yard. Like the aloysia that sprung where the salvia clevlandi once was and among the jojoba. Or the lantana in the aster. The finches love the aloysia with its delicate, fresh sprays of flowers that are a must peck for any gold finch. So I decided to supplement bird feed with store seed (and some plants! mind you) to see if more types of birds may fly in. To my amazement up sprung some of the store bought bird seed! Living in AZ, I had never seen the likes of it. Everyone thought I was growing corn, but I just said it was Jack's beanstalk. So on the front patio, centered, came a volunteer which is completely unknown to me or anyone in the neighborhood. It was total WOW because everyone knows things grow with me and I do theirs as well. Enough is enough so, can we identify this plant by the picture?
. Hi there Charles! I'm in N. AZ! Your plant is sorghum. http://images.google.com/images?q=sorghum&hl=en It originates in Africa where it is used as a grain for human consumption and is very common elsewhere in bird seed and other animal seed mixes. It is also planted and used as food by various Indian/Native American groups. As such, several heirloom varieties are grown out and offered by Native Seeds/SEARCH, a seed conservation group in Tuscon - there are some pictures of various varieties: http://www.nativeseeds.org/v2/cat.php?catID=33&PHPSESSID=5ae51b74666c1994bb7ebb3a9e5d7b29 If you want more specific identification they are sure to be of help. Nice looking plant! .
Agree with Sorghum. Be careful when letting bird seed grow, someone I know once asked me to identify some seedlings he had from some bird seed he sowed . . . they were a nice group of Cannabis sativa . . .
