Saccharum officinarum L.

Sugarcane

Natural range: Old World Tropics

Habitat: When escaped, weedy

Florida status: Extensively cultivated between Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades, also used a little as an ornamental grass. Sometimes escaped.

Recognition: Large cane having auriculate leaves with the ligule 2-3 mm long. Feathery-fuzzy awnless spikelets (spikelets awned in S. giganteum). Sessile spikelets 3-5 mm long, with hairs longer than the glumes.

Photo by Shirley Denton