Flora of the Hawaiian Islands
Literature for Saccharum officinarum
Webster, 2003; Lorence & Wagner, 2019.
   Poaceae -- The Grass Family Bibliography
      Saccharum officinarum
General Information
DistributionNative 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