I3 SUGAR 



is frequently alternately horizontal and descending in 

 successive joints. The leaf-scar may project as a shelf 

 under the bud, and this part of it is termed the lip. In 

 certain forms it is furnished with a close, regular circlet 

 of hairs, which form a very marked character. On 

 examining young lateral shoots of any variety, these 

 hairs are seen to be constantly present as a glistening 

 sheath on all the lower joints. In mature canes they 

 vary very greatly according to the variety; most of them 

 have some hairs on the first formed older joints, but they 

 vary very greatly as to the continuance of the hairs 

 upwards on the cane. They are typically present all the 

 way up the stem in all the members of the Chin group. 

 In the Rheora group they are usually present in the basal 

 joints, but soon disappear under the bud as we proceed 

 upwards. In the Pansahi group, on the other hand, they 

 are very poorly represented, and only survive as a few 

 bristles under the bud, rapidly disappearing at the back 

 of the joint. This circlet of hairs is rather characteristic 

 of Indian canes as a whole, comparatively few traces of 

 it being found in the tropical canes I have examined. I 

 have, however, seen it well developed in at least one 

 Barbados seedling. For these and other reasons I have 

 been led to consider the circlet of hairs a primitive 

 character, still appearing in the most primitive forms and 

 on the lower joints of the more advanced, and I have 

 compared it with the divided leaves seen in the seedlings 

 and new branches of Australian acacias and leafless 

 Leguminosae. It is, in fact, a marked " youth character " 

 and of considerable importance in classification. 



The leaf more than completely embraces the stem, and 

 sometimes the ending of the leaf-scar is decurrent for 

 some distance. This ending is shown as a short, dark 

 line obliquely across the node, even passing for some 

 distance into the bloom band below. This decurrence 

 was first noted in a cane called Sonabile, and by its means 

 all canes of this variety were readily picked out at the 

 mill, and a case of wrong labelling was quickly rectified. 



The leaf-scar is usually sharply defined below, and is 

 immediately above the bloom band. Occasionally, how- 

 ever, there is a narrow dull zone between the leaf-scar 



