366 USEFUL PLANTS OF GUAM. 
Rutaceae. RUE FAMILY. 
There are no indigenous Rutaceae. In addition to the various species of Citrus, 
the “lemoncito”’ ( Triphasia trifoliata) has been introduced, and in many places forms 
dense, impenetrable thickets. 
Rynchospora aurea. Same as Rynchospora corymbosa. 
Rynchospora corymbosa. BrAK RUSH. 
Family Cyperaceae. 
A sedge widely distributed in the Tropics, collected in Guam by Haenke in 1792 
and Lesson in 1828. Common in moist places, especially on the borders of rice fields. 
It has a leafy 3-cornered stem 60 to 90 cm. high and very many clustered spikelets 
at the ends of the branches of large decompound umbels. 
REFERENCES: 
Rynchospora corymbosa (L. ) 
Scirpus corymbosus L. Cent. Pl. 2: 7.1756 (ex Ind. Kew.); Amoen. Acad. 
4: 303. 1756. 
Rynchospora aurea Vahl, Enum. Pl. 2: 229, 1806. 
Sabana vegetation. See Savannas. 
Saber bean. See Cunavali ensiforme. 
Sables (Philippines). See Asplenium nidus under Ferns. 
Sabotan (Philippines). See Pandanius tectorius. 
Saccharum floridulum. Same as Viphagrostis floridula. 
Saccharum officinarum. SUGAR CANE, 
Family Poaceae. 
Local NAMEs.—Cafia dulee, Cana de azticar (Spanish); Tupu, Tupo (Guam); 
Tubé, (Philippines); Tubu, Tibu mira (Malay Archipelago); Tébu (Java); 
Dovu (Fiji); Tolo (Samoa); To (Tahiti, Master Island); Fari (Madagascar). 
Sugar cane was one of the food staples of the aborigines before the discovery 
of Guam. Its vernacular name is etymologically identical in many islands of the 
Malay Archipelago, the Philippines, and Polynesia; and the variety in Guam from 
which the natives make sugar, with short internodes and of a yellow color, is like 
that found by Captain Cook in Tahiti. Another variety, called “cafia morada’’ by 
the Spaniards, of a purple color, is also grown on the island, but it is too watery 
and not sweet enough for sugar-making. The variety ‘“amarilla”’ 
height of 7 or 8 feet; the ‘‘morada”’ grows much higher. 
grows to the 
The cultivation of sugar cane is not now carried on so extensively as formerly, as 
the manufacture of sugar demands no little labor, and requires the use of animals 
and machinery, and imported sugar can be bought of the traders at a comparatively 
low price, There are families, however, who retain the customs of their ancestors, 
holding it to be wrong to buy anything which they themselves can make. These 
not only make their sugar from cane or from the sap of the cocoanut, but evaporate 
sea water in iron kettles to get their salt, counting as nothing the labor of their fam- 
ilies or the value of the fuel consumed. 
The climate of Guam is well adapted to the cultivation of sugar cane, and in many 
low-lying situations, where it is not very wet, the soil seems well suited to it. 
Though the cost of a sugar mill is considerable, yet one mill would answer for the 
crops of many farms, and the natives could carry their cane to the mill just as with 
us the farmers carry their wheat or corn. 
The cane is propagated by cuttings, consisting of two or three joints of the upper 
part of the stem. These are selected from vigorous, healthy plants. They are placed 
in the ground with only an inch or two of the cutting projecting above the surface. 
In about two weeks from planting the ‘“‘eyes’’ at each node will send forth shoots, 
and roots will grow from the nodes themselves. As the shoots develop, the parent 
