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Saccharum arundinaceum
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Family:
POACEAE/GRAMINEAE
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Citation: Saccharum arundinaceum Retz., Obs. Bot. 4: 14. 1786; Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 7: 119. 1896; Gamble, Fl. Pres. Madras 1709(1185). 1934; Sunil & Sivadasan, Fl. Alappuzha Dist. 888. 2009.
Erianthus arundinaceum (Retz.) Jesw., Suikerind. Ned.-Ind. 33: 399. 1925.
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Malayalam Name(s):
Amadarbha, Naim-kana, Ambottal, Munjapullu, Mekhapullu
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Tamil name(s):
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English name(s):
Devil sugarcane, Reedy sugarcane
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Description:
Shrubby perennials; culms solid, to 4 m tall or more, lower nodes 2 cm thick; leaf-sheaths overlapping, glabrous and smooth, fairly tight, as much as 40 cm long; blades generally 2-ranked, long and broad, up to 100 cm x 2.5-5 cm, gradually narrowed to the base, broadest below the middle and tapering into a long, acuminate, fairly smooth point, the midrib prominent, whitish; ligule a shallow membranous rim, bordered by dense stiff hairs. Inflorescence terminal panicle, 30-80 x 15 cm, the branches glabrous except the finer ones which may bear spreading silky hairs like those on the spikelets, forming successive whorls along the axis, each branch a raceme which breaks up into units consisting of a joint and its sessile spikelets together with the pedicels of the pedicelled spikelet, the ripe pedicelled spikelet falling away entire. Sessile spikelet from a short, common, short- haired callus, with the joint and pedicel which both carry long hairs; lower glume 2-nerved, the margins infolded along the nerves, narrowly ovate-attenuate, the nerves continued to the tip, scaberulous on the back of the nerves and carrying in addition long fine hairs, 2.8 mm long + hairs 5.4 mm long; upper glume hyaline, narrowly boat-shaped, 3-nerved, the midnerve forming the keel and a fine point, with scaberulae on the back of the keel and an occasional long hair, 2.6 mm long; lower lemma 2.6 mm long, 1-nerved, delicately hyaline, narrowly boat-shaped, 3-nerved, the midnerve forming the keel and a fine point, with scaberulous on the back of the keel and an occasional long hair, 2.6 mm long; lower lemma 2.6 mm long, 1-nerved, delicately hyaline, narrowly linear-acuminate, the margins fringed above; palea nil; upper lemma similar to the lower but more ponted, 2.6 mm long; palea a fimbriate, delicately hyaline scale, 1.2 mm long. Anthers purple, 1.2 mm long. Stigmata 2, plumose, purple. Pedicelled spikelet similar, but both glumes more heavily bearded and the lower glume only 1-nerved.
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Habit:
Herb
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Flowering & Fruiting:
December-April
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District(s):
All Districts
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Medicinal:
Yes
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Habitat:
Along streams and field boarders
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Distribution:
India, Sri Lanka and Malesia
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Aquatic:
Yes
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Epiphyte(s):
No
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Saprophyte:
No
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Stem parasite:
No
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Root parasite:
No
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Flower colour(s):
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Weed:
No
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Monocot/Dicot:
Monocotyledonous Plants
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Exotic:
No
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Garden:
No
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Edible:
No
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Vegetable:
No
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Endemic to:
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IUCN status:
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Altitude:
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Localities:
Mavelikkara
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