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Saccharum spontaneum

Authority L. Family Liliopsida:Commelinidae:Cyperales:Gramineae Synonyms Common names Editor Ecocrop code 1887

Notes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION A grass, free-tillering, often with aggressive rhizomes, reaching a height of up to 8 m, but normally it is 2-3.5 m. Culms slender, hard, pithy, often hollow, with little juice, and leaves 100-200 cm long. USES It provides sugar, though the sucrose content is low and the fibre content high. Has been used in the breeding of S. officinarum, as it provides vigour, hardiness and resistance to many major diseases. GROWING PERIOD Perennial, growing 10-24 months, but most sugar cane is grown for 14-18 months for the plant crop and 12 months for the ratoon crop. COMMON NAMES Wild cane, Pip-pit, Glagah, Tatebu, Talahib, Tigbau, Sidda, 'am'peu prei, Ph'ong, Lau, Phong, Lao, Co'lach. FURTHER INF Wild cane occurs in a wide region ranging from Africa and Afganistan to Japan and the South Pacific within the latitudinal range 40° to the equator. It can be found from sea level to 1700 m in elevation. It natural habitats includes swamps, saline swamps, deserts, jungles, sandy river flats, and the low slopes of the Himalayas.
Sources
Grassland Index Purseglove J 1972 pp 214-215 [USE] Skerman P 1990 pp 649-651 [DRA, RAIN, TEXT] Aronson J 1989 pp 69 Mannetje L 1992 pp 195-196 [USE, RAIN, TEXT, FER] Lovett J 1979 pp 95-112 [DRA, SAL, TEXT]