Saccharum officinarum
Common name
Sugar cane
Family
Poaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Grasses
Conservation status
Not assessed
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
Flowering
Rarely seen in New Zealand
Fruiting
Never seen in New Zealand
Life cycle
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.
Year naturalised
1989
Origin
Tropics - an anicent cultigen derived from past hybridism
Reason for introduction
Ornamental and Cultural
Control techniques
Disposal Method
Dig up and brn
Tolerances
Cold intolerant. Flourishes in open, damp, humid conditions. Tolerant of brackish water.