Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.

vernacular pearl millet — species · Poaceae

USDA: PEGL2
GBIF: 5828197 syn.
Rank: species

pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) — Platephotograph · no rights reservedCC0 · public domain source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Graminoid
Duration: Annual, Perennial
Group: Monocot
Family: Poaceae Barnhart
Genus: Pennisetum

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
PB Pacific Basin (except Hawaii) Introduced
PR Puerto Rico Introduced

§2b

County-level range

· 3 counties across 1 state

Legend Native · 0 Introduced · 3 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Medium
Shade: High
Moisture use: Low
Fire: None
Salinity: None
Anaerobic: None
CaCO₃: Low
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -35 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 200 min.
Precipitation: 30–50 in/yr
pH range: 5.5–6.8
Root depth: 10 in min.
Fertility need: Low
Soil texture: coarse, medium

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Bunch
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Short
Mature height: 6 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: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Mid Summer
Seed abundance: High
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Fall
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 82,320
Propagation: seed

§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 3 counties across 1 state.

Rhode Island view state ↗ 3 I ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

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

plants.usda.gov/PEGL2 ↗

GBIF Backbone

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

gbif.org/species/5828197 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z