General Information |
Distribution | Native to tropical Asia and some Pacific islands, cultivated for sugar production in many tropical and subtropical parts of the world.
|
Habit
|
Perennial with short rhizomes; culms
3‒6 m tall, 2‒5 cm thick, clumped, glabrous throughout or nearly so, proximal internodes swollen, internodes variable in color, with sugary sap.
|
Leaves
|
Leaves with sheath sometimes ciliate at the collar margin; auricles present; ligule 2‒3 mm; blade 70‒150 cm long, 20‒60 mm wide, usually glabrous, occasionally with hairs on the adaxial surfaces.
|
Flowers
|
Inflorescences composed of panicles, 50‒100 cm long, to 20 cm wide, lanceolate, peduncle 20‒80 cm, glabrous, rachis 30‒80 cm, glabrous; primary branches 10‒25 cm, appressed to spreading; raceme internodes 3‒6 mm, glabrous. Sessile spikelets 3‒5 mm long, 0.8‒0.9 mm wide, white to gray; callus hairs 6‒10 mm, exceeding the spikelets, white; proximal glumes glabrous, 2‒4-veined; distal glumes 3-veined; proximal lemmas 3‒4.5 mm, 2‒3-veined; distal lemmas without veins, entire; awns absent; lodicule veins
not extending into hairlike projections; anthers 3; pedicel 2‒5 mm long, glabrous; pedicellate spikelets similar to the sessile spikelets.
|
Fruit
|
Caryopses ellipsoid, ca. 2.5 mm
long, tan.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chromosomes
|
2n = 80
|
|
|
Contributor
|
Nancy Khan
|