Saccharum giganteum |
Saccharum officinarum |
|
---|---|---|
sugarcane plumegrass |
sugarcane |
|
Habit | Plants rhizomatous. | Plants with short rhizomes. |
Culms | 1-2.5 m; nodes sericeous, hairs to 5 mm. |
3-6 m tall, 2-5 cm thick, clumped, glabrous throughout or nearly so, lower internodes swollen. |
Sheaths | glabrate or glabrous; auricles absent; ligules 2-6 mm; blades usually 35-70 cm long, 8-30 mm wide, adaxial surfaces glabrous or pilose. |
sometimes ciliate at the collar margins; auricles present; ligules 2-3 mm; blades 70-150 cm long, 20-60 mm wide, usually glabrous, occasionally with hairs on the adaxial surfaces. |
Peduncles | 40-80 cm, pilose; panicles 6-15 cm wide, oblong or lanceolate; rachises 15-30 cm, pilose; lowest nodes densely pilose; primary branches 2-13 cm, ascending or appressed to the rachises; rame internodes 2-5.5 mm, pilose. |
20-80 cm, glabrous; panicles 50-100 cm long, to 20 cm wide, lanceolate; rachises 30-80 cm, glabrous; primary branches 10-25 cm, appressed to spreading; rame internodes 3-6 mm, glabrous. |
Pedicels | 2.5-5 mm, pilose. |
2-5 mm, glabrous. |
Sessile | spikelets 4.2-6 mm long, 0.8-1.1 mm wide, straw-colored. |
spikelets 3-5 mm long, 0.8-0.9 mm wide, white to gray. |
Callus | hairs (7)15-20(25) mm, longer than the spikelets, straw-colored or brown; glumes usually glabrous; lower glumes smooth, indistinctly 5-veined; lower lemmas 3-5 mm, without veins; upper lemmas 2.5-3.5 mm, 1-veined, entire; awns 12-26 mm, straight or curved, terete basally; lodicule veins sometimes extending into hairlike projections; anthers 2. |
hairs 6-10 mm, exceeding the spikelets, white; lower glumes glabrous, 2-4-veined; upper glumes 3-veined; lower lemmas 3-4.5 mm, 2-3-veined; upper lemmas without veins, entire; awns absent; lodicule veins not extending into hairlike projections; anthers 3. |
Pedicellate | spikelets similar to the sessile spikelets, except frequently pilose. |
spikelets similar to the sessile spikelets. |
2n | = 30, 60, 90. |
= 80. |
Saccharum giganteum |
Saccharum officinarum |
|
Distribution |
AL; AR; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA
|
AL; FL; LA; MS; TX; PR; Virgin Islands |
Discussion | Saccharum giganteum grows in wet soils of bogs, swales, and swamps. Its range extends from the eastern and southeastern United States to Central America. It is a polymorphic, primarily chasmogamous species that intergrades morphologically with the primarily cleistogamous S. trinii (Hack.) Renvoize in Central America. The combination of long callus hairs and straight awns distinguishes it from all other species of Saccharum in the Flora region. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Saccharum officinarum is native to tropical Asia and the Pacific islands. It is cultivated for sugar production in various parts of the world, including Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. It is also becoming popular as an ornamental plant for gardens in warmer parts of the contiguous United States, and appears to be established in some parts of the southeastern United States. A number of different, clonally propagated color forms are available. It hybridizes with S. spontaneum (see discussion above). (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 611. | FNA vol. 25, p. 614. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Andropogoneae > Saccharum | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Andropogoneae > Saccharum |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Erianthus giganteus | |
Name authority | (Walter) Pers. | L. |
Web links |