细秆甘蔗 xi gan gan zhe

Saccharum officinarum Linnaeus subsp. barberi (Jeswiet) Burkill.

Perennial with short stout rhizomes. Culms solid, up to 2 m tall, 1–2 cm in diam., solid, nodes bearded, softly pilose below inflorescence. Leaf sheaths longer than internodes; leaf blades ca. 50 × 1–2 cm, margins serrate; ligule well developed. Panicle very large, axis with white silky hairs. Spikelets oblong; callus hairs longer than spikelet; lower glume oblong, glabrous, margin infolded; lower lemma slightly shorter than glumes; upper lemma narrowly linear, awnless. Fl. and fr. summer and autumn. 2n = 82–124.

Cultivated. Guangxi, Taiwan, Yunnan [originating in Bangladesh and India].

This name covers a group of slender, relatively hardy, cultivated sugarcane clones originating in subtropical N India. These are ancient types not far removed from wild Saccharum spontaneum and now usually included in S. officinarum under cultivar names. They have mostly been superseded by modern, commercial varieties.