CHAPTER IV 



Variation in the Cane and Cane Varieties 



In the various systems of classification, plants are divided and subdivided 

 into related groups. 



There hence appear such terms as Family, which includes a number of 

 Orders, comprising in their turn Genera, which are again divided into Species. 

 In more detail still a species can be di\'ided into a great number of Varieties, 

 each of which can be distinguished and recognised b^' certain minor char- 

 acteristics, which are not of sufl&cient importance to redse the variety to the 

 dignity of a species. Within a variety may be foimd a Strain, a term which 

 is often used to apply to characters fixed by artificial selection. A t^'pical 

 example of a strain is to be found in the beetroot, in which by continually 

 selecting plants rich in sugar as mother beets several very sweet strains have 

 been acquired. 



Following Hackel^ the genus Saccharum is divided into four sub-genera : 

 Eusaccharum, Sclerostycha, Eriochrysis, and Leptosaccharum. These four 

 genera include in all twelve species which are in their turn subdi\'ided into 

 a number of varieties. The cultivated sugar cane is termed Saccharum 

 officinarum, and is di\'ided b}' Hackel into three groups. 



{a) Genninum. Stem pale green to yellow, darker yellow near the 

 ground. Leaf grass-green, imderside sea-green. 



This group is again di\-ided into (i) Commune, (2) Brevipedicellatum. 



{b) Violaceum. Stem, leaf sheath, lower side of leaves, panicle, violet. 



(c) Litterafum. Stem dirty green or yellow, marked with dark red 

 stripes at equal intervals. 



The inclusion of Litteratum as a sub-group is to be deprecated. The 

 erm was first used by HasskarP with reference to a striped cane in Java. 

 There are, however, many striped varieties with man\' combinations of 

 colour. As shown later, these striped canes are to be regarded as chimeras, 

 and arise from self-coloured canes, and in turn themselves afford self-coloured 

 canes as sports or bud mutations. 



From the seventeenth centurj- onwards the sugar cane has been fre- 

 quently described by botanists, and very considerable confusion has arisen. 

 Generally in the older hterature three varieties of the sugar cane are referred 

 to : — 5. officinarum, S. violaceum and 5. sinense. As used by Tussac,^ 

 S. violaceum refers to a cane with a \aolet stem, the purple Bata\*ian cane, 

 and in this sense it is also used by Humboldt* and some other early writers. 

 The term should, however, be confined to a sub-group characterized by the 

 possession of \iolet leaves. This property is not tmcommon, and may 

 be found in a certain degree in the BadiUa cane at present cultivated to some 

 extent in Fiji and Austraha. It also occurs amongst some canes indigenous 

 to the Hawaiian Islands and still gro\ving there in isolated districts. The 



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