Family: Poaceae
Introduced to Hawaiʻi by the Polynesians, sugar cane is a grass with hard stems (stalks) and long blades. This plant can grow up to 15 ft tall. The stalks can range in color from a light yellow to dark red. It thrives in full sun and daily watering is recommended but not necessary. Sugar cane has many uses in Hawaiian culture, most importantly as a sweetener. The blades were also used for house-thatching when the more preferred pili grass was not available.
Plant Uses:
- Cultural significance
- Edible
- Privacy / screening
Plant Dangers:
- No dangers
High Risk Traits:
- Broad climate tolerance (tropical/subtropical)
- Widely introduced outside native range
- Congeneric weed (S. spontaneum)
- Host for crop pests/pathogens
- Creates fire hazard
- Tolerates varied soils
- Natural hybridization
- Vegetative reproduction (fragmentation)
- Wind-dispersed seeds
- Regrows after fire or cutting
- Generates in ~1 year
Low Risk Traits:
- Not widely naturalized
- No spines or thorns
- Palatable to grazers
- Non-toxic (except horses in excess)
- No major human allergies
- Not shade tolerant
- Low seed viability & no long-term seed bank
