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Saccharum officinarum

Tō

Sugarcane

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Plants and stem detail	79KB
Image:	Modern sugarcane and flower heads	106KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Sugarcane, Sugar Cane; German Zuckerrohr

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Tō (RR MG AT MK MT AK TS TW MH RK PK NS), Sugar Cane (PL); Other Polynesian - Tolo (SAM)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE Asia - Malesia - ?

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Introduced - Polynesian, Not Naturalised; Land, lowlands - inland valleys

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: Medicine, Food (Stem 3+)

KEY FEATURES: A tall, clumping grass, with flower stalk to 4m. STEM stout, hard, lower nodes exposed, purplish to green, juicy. LEAVES 2 rows, flat, lance-like, to 150x5cm, edge spiny. FLOWERS in large terminal plume, white.

Enlarged Image of 'Saccharum officinarum'

Cook Islands Distribution

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Southern Group: Present Makatea: Present
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
++++	++++	++++	++	P	++++	++?		-

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
++	P	P	+++	++?	-

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Pests & Hosts

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Relationship	Pests
Pest - caterpillar on	Leucania loreyi,

Scientific Taxonomy

Saccharum officinarum Linnaeus
TAXONOMY: PLANTAE; ANTHOPHYTA (=Angiospermae); LILIOPSIDA (=Monocotyledones); COMMELINIDAE; Cyperales; POACEAE

More Information

IDENTIFICATION: A tall, thick-stemmed, wide-leaved perennial grass. STEM (=culm) clumped, stout, hard, ringed, to 3m, juicy, lower nodes exposed. LEAVES in 2 ranks, flat, lance-like, to 150x5cm, margin spiny. FLOWERS large terminal plume, white.

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Pukapuka: fieldspecimen, 2/2004, G.McCormack with ID as Saccharum officinarum.

References:
p.77 Neal - In Gardens of Hawaii
p.1023 Royal Hort. Soc. Index of Garden Plants
p.511 Tropica
p.1/369 A.C.Smith - Flora Vitiensis Nova
p.21 A Wilder - Flora of Rarotonga
p.405c Whistler - Ethnobotany of the Cook Islands

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zupM04a, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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