Desert Grass. Turgid panic grass (Panicum turgidum)

Family: Poaceae | Edibility: Edible (2/5)

Panicum turgidum is a PERENNIAL growing to 1.5 m (5ft) by 0.2 m (0ft 8in) at a fast rate. See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 10. The flowers are pollinated by Wind. Suitable for: light (sandy) and medium (loamy) soils, prefers well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils and can grow in saline soils. It cannot grow in the shade.

Edible Parts & Harvest Seasons

Edible Parts: Nuts/Seeds, Roots/Tubers

Harvest Seasons: Early Summer, Fall, Late Summer, Spring, Winter

Flavor & Culinary Uses

sweet flavour. — Seed - eaten as a soup or ground into a flour and used to make a bread or a porridge.; The grain may also be stored against a time of scarcity.; In times of dearth, people raid ants nests to obtain the grain the ants have stored.; Young shoots - a sweet flavour.

Habitat & North American Range

Dry sandy soils. Sandy deserts and semi-deserts, on dunes and seashores, and in sandy pockets in rocky outcrops, at elevations up to 3,200 metres. (Zone 10)