Saccharum officinarum
Common names
sugar cane
Biostatus
Exotic
Conservation status
Not applicable
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Grasses
Habitat
Sporadic weed—often on the margins of legal and illegal rubbish dumps, or found established at the base of garden refuse dumps bordering forest, mangrove swamps and gullies in northern New Zealand.
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
Rarely seen in New Zealand
Fruiting
Never seen in New Zealand
Year naturalised
1989
Origin
Tropics—an anicent cultigen derived from past hybridism
Reason for introduction
Ornamental and Cultural
Tolerances
Cold intolerant. Flourishes in open, damp, humid conditions. Tolerant of brackish water.
Control techniques
Disposal Method
Dig up and burn
Life cycle and dispersal
Long-lived perennial grass. Reproduction is exclusively vegetative through disassociation of rhizomes. No seed is produced in New Zealand (rarely throughout the world). Dispersed by dumping garden waste and rubbish.