It is also known as the Sonoran millet, and is cultivated as a cereal crop in the American Southwest.

[2] In North America it is native to the Southwestern United States and Mexico.

It grows in many types of habitat, including disturbed areas.

There is evidence that it was eaten, cultivated and possibly domesticated by Native Americans.

The inflorescence is a branching panicle up to 12 centimeters long with rounded spikelets at nodes.