:i 



. r 



t 



r 



^■. 



-^ 



95 



[TAB, XXVL] 



4 



ON THE BOTANICAL CHARACTERS OF THE 

 SUGAR CANE, WITH REMARKS ON ITS CUL- 

 TIVATION. By James Macfadyen, I\L D., Jamaica, 



SACCHARUM OFFICINARUM, 



{Sngar Cane.) 



Triandria Digynia. Nat. Ord. Gramine.^: 



Gen. Char. Spiculce gerainee, altera sessilis, altera pcdi- 

 cellata, omnes hermapln^oditae, uniflorte, (bifloi'ae,* Br.) 

 Gluma duae, coriace^e. Flos hermaphroditus: PalecB duae 

 hyalinae, inferior mutica aut aristata, Br.) Paha {^os 

 neuter univalvis, Br,) unica, mutica. Kwiih* 



Saccharum officinarum; panicula efFusa, ramis numerosissi- 

 mis verticillatis, glumis subaequalibus lanugine breviori- 

 bus, foliis planis glabris. (Tab. XXVL) 



Saccharum officinarum. Linn. Sp. PL p. 79. Willd. Sp. PL 

 V. 1. p. 381. Humb. et Kunth Nov. Gen. v. L p. 146. 

 Spreng. Syst. Veget. v. I. p. 281. 



Arundo saccharifera. Sloane Jam. v. 1. p. 108. t. 66. 

 Pumph. Herb. Amb. v. I. p. 186. t. 74. / 1. 



Hab. In India orientali ? Colitur fere ubique inter tropicos. 



This precious plant, so especially valuable in a commercial 

 point of view, is supposed to be a native of the East Indies. 

 The Chinese date the cultivation of the Sugar Cane to 

 periods of the most remote antiquity: but Dr. Roxburgh 

 ascertained that the Sugar Cane of China was different from 



"officinarum 



From 



the East Indies it was carried by merchants, towards the 



* " Spiculas bifloras esse vix duLito, quamquam in speciminibus siccis eaa 

 oespicere non potui."— JTa^rt, 



VOL. I. H 



