Sorghum

 

I found these plants growing in front of an apartment on my block. They were big, heavy stems with wavy long leaves and seed clusters at the top. At first I thought it was plain old corn but then the clusters didn't look like corn at all. I re-identified the plants as sorghum, an agricultural crop that is common in both the old and new worlds. The seeds are millet, which both humans and animals eat. I have tried it and it isn't bad, you just cook it like rice. But what were sorghum plants doing growing in an apartment parking lot? The apartment dweller came out of his rooms and said that he puts out seeds for birds. Some of the bird seeds were sorghum, which fell from the apartment balcony as eaten or dropped by birds. There were plenty of birds in the area, attracted by the seeds. There were also people, who were curious as to what I was doing. The apartment dweller passed me a plastic chair to sit on while I drew. I always attract a little crowd when I do street or park drawing, but I tried to keep them at "official" six feet distance. 

Black tech pen on sketchbook page, 6" x 8", August 23, 2020.