Millet, one of the earliest domesticated and cultivated cereals in China, can be traced back to the middle Neolithic Age. It is drought-resistant and barren-tolerant, and it is the main food crop in northern China. Xiaomi is called "Xiaomi" in the north and "Xiaomi" in the south. There are many kinds of millet, including white, red, yellow, black, orange and purple.

After the middle Tang Dynasty, rice gradually replaced millet as the primary position in food crops, and then wheat gradually surpassed millet. As a result, China's agricultural grain crop structure has changed from millet to rice and wheat.

Shape feature

Once a year. Thick fibrous roots. The culms are stout and erect, with a height of 0. 1- 1 m or higher. Leaf sheaths are loosely wound around the stem, with dense verrucous hairs or hairless. The hair is close to the back where the edge meets the leaves, and the edge has dense cilia. The ligule is a circle of cilia; Leaf blade is long lanceolate or linear lanceolate, length10-45cm, width 5-33mm, sharp apex, blunt base, rough upper surface and slightly smooth lower surface.

The panicle is cylindrical or nearly rotating, usually drooping, with discontinuous base, length 10-40 cm, width 1-5 cm, which often varies from variety to variety, with dense spindle shape, bristles obviously longer than or slightly longer than spikelets, yellow, brown or purple; Spikelets are oval or nearly spherical, 2-3 mm long, yellow, orange or purple; The first spikelet is 1/3- 1/2 with three veins.

The second glume is slightly shorter or longer than 3/4 of the spikelet, with obtuse apex and 5-9 veins; The first lemma is as long as the spikelet and has 5-7 veins. Its palea is as thin as paper and lanceolate, which is 2/3 of its length. The second lemma is as long as the first lemma, oval or spherical, hard, smooth or with fine wrinkles. When it matures, it separates from the base and glume of the first lemma. The top of the pulp sheet is uneven and microwave-like.