Sugarcane (Saccharum Officinarum L.)
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/4 ^'^ SUGARCANE (SACCHARUM OFFICINARUM L.) ORIGIN CLASSIFICATION CHARACTERISTICS, AND DESCRIPTIONS OF REPRESENTATIVE CLONES ■ u AGRICULTURE HANDBOOK NO. 122 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE SUGARCANE (SACCHARUM OFFICINARUM L.) ORIGIN CLASSIFICATION CHARACTERISTICS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF REPRESENTATIVE CLONES By Ernst Artschwager Formerly Senior Botanist and E. W. Brandes Formerly Head Pathologist Crops Research Division Agricultural Research Service AGRICULTURE HANDBOOK No. 122 The garden sugarcanes of Melanesia constitute the original base from which our present-day varieties of sugarcane derive. Varietal descriptions of the Melanesian garden canes and their derivatives are drawn from a living collection and are here placed on record. As background material and to promote fullest interest in use of this extensive store of germ plasm, what is known or what logically may be in- ferred concerning the history, value, and use of these varieties as a group and their interrelationships with other varietal groups in the genus is given. CONTENTS Page Page Origin, classification, and charac- Vegetative characters used in the teristics 1 description and classification Importance of Saccharum offici- of noble canes—Continued narum 3 Vegetative characters—Con. Colloquial names 3 Blade 56 Relative position of Saccharum Leaf sheath 57 officinarum in the genus 7 Auricles 59 Geographic origin and dispersal. 18 Ligule 61 Origin 18 Dewlaps 61 Dispersal 21 Midrib pubescence 64 Collecting expeditions, 1853- Evaluation of characters used_- 65 1951 28 Descriptions and taxonomic keys Vegetative characters used in the of the clones 81 description and classification Descriptions of the clones 83 of noble canes 45 New Guinea group 83 Materials and methods 45 New Caledonian group 160 Vegetative characters 48 Hawaiian group 180 v Internode 48 Miscellaneous noble group 198 Bud 52 Taxonomic keys 253 Leaf 56 Literature cited 260 Washington, D. C. Issued January 1958 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, XJ. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. - Price $1.25 (paper) Origin, migration, and diversification centers of noble sugarcanes: ® is the location of the origin of Saccharum officinarum, derived from S. robustum, which occurred 8000 to 15000 B. C. = shows first track of migration of S. officinarum, beginning about 8000 B. C. — shows second tracks of migration, beginning about 6000 B. C. — shows third tracks of migration, about 500 to 1100 A. D. indicates satellite centers of diversity along tracks of migration. Shaded portion of map indicates outline of the former great Asiatic-Australian Continent. SUGARCANE CSaccharum officinarum L.>: ORIGIN, CLASSIFICATION CHARACTERISTICS, AND DESCRIPTIONS OF REPRESENTATIVE CLONES ' ORIGIN, CLASSIFICATION AND CHARACTERISTICS^ A field reconnaissance of the Old World tropics in 1922-23 to collect sugarcane and a critical review of available data on sugarcane groups motivated the systematic search for domesticated Saccharum forms and their near relatives in the presumptive area of their origin, Mel- anesia. This search also included the areas of their early dispersal— Indonesia, southeastern Asia, and Polynesia. The map (frontispiece) reconstructs the postulated origin of domes- ticated sugarcanes by selection from wild canes in New Guinea and their migrations prehistorically (transported as stem cuttings by man) to various centers of diversity. At these centers some canes were further modified by natural hybridization with other wild grasses. The shaded portion of the map indicates the outline of the former great Asiatic-.A.ustralian Continent. The continent in an earlier geologic epoch (Cretaceous) afforded a land bridge by which some Asiatic types of cane apparently found their way unaided by man to what is now Melanesia. Subsequently, when isolated by water barriers and under different conditions, a different wild cane evolved in Melanesia than in Asia or other islands of the archipelago. The phytogeographic studies of Merrill (35) ^ suggest this hypothesis. 1 Submitted for publication January 14, 1957. 2 Introductory section by E. W. Brandes, formerly head pathologist in charge, Sugar Crops Investigations, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 3 Italic numbers in parentheses refer to Literature Cited, p. 260. 2 AGR. HANDBOOK 12 2, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE This explanation covers both the presence of Saccharum in Melanesia and the restricted range of the large wild cane, S. robustum Brandes & Jeswiet ex Grassl, recently found in New Guinea. The present handbook, describing vegetative characteristics of a kindred aggregation of Saccharum forms, here designated as garden sugarcanes of Melanesia and their derivatives, and variously called ''thick-stemmed tropical,'' ''original,'' or "noble" sugarcanes, also broadly interpreted as the horticultural species S. officinarum L. (29),^ is the fourteenth technical contribution stemming from a comprehen- sive sugarcane project. The purpose of this project was to gather a world reference collection of ancestral or precursor wild and domes- ticated cane varieties and was begun in 1922. The contributions include separate treatments of the more or less discrete segments of the reference collection on the subjects of comparative morphology {1-7, 29), disease reactions {16, 18), geographic origins based on the ranges of wild forms and centers of diversity of domesticated forms related to them {13, 18, 19), ecological diversity and adaptation {IJi), and practical cane breeding {16, 18), which is the central theme of the project. The conception of the overall project grew out of the need for locally adapted, disease-resistant genotypes. In general, groups of the original Saccharum forms that are related morphologically and particularly groups of individuals related both in form and in geo- graphic origin are apt to have functional characteristics in common {16). In other terms, the mode of the phenotype often but^ not invariably reflects the mode of the genotype in physiological qualities, including such puzzling characteristics as group adaptability to alien environments and even group reactions to infections. In fact, observations on the group reactions of morphologically related Sac- charum forms to sugarcane mosaic virus {12, 16) stimulated the gathering of all cultivated and wild groups of Saccharum and Sac- charum relatives from their primary, isolated areas of origin and the assembling of them for comparative study at each of several stations at different latitudes in the New World. Duplicating the collection in that manner was for the purpose of studying adaptability and insuring the production of normal specimens. The expectation was that every variety in the collection would be found naturally adapted 4 AUhough no type specimens exist, there is good evidence that Linnaeus based his species officinarum on the only sugarcane readily available to him, now known as Creole. The clone gradually disappeared from extensive cultiva- tion between 100 and 150 years ago. Much historical and botanical study has been devoted to the clone by Deerr (24) y Bremer {21), Grassl (29), and others, but there remains some confusion as to its identity and synonymy. Creole is an odd sterile hybrid type with 2n = 81 chromosomes. By an unusually fortunate circumstance the United States Patent Office published in 1849 (28) a contem- porary series of technicallv correct and beautifully executed drawings of Creole made by Charles L. Fleischmann of Philadelphia. Fleischmann was assisted m this work which includes enlargements of microscopic features of the clom^ ''Otaheite," by the internationally famous Czech botanist Corda. Corda was recommended for this scientific investigation by Baron Alexander von Humboldt. The morphological characteristics of Creole, a short, relatively thick-stemmed greenish-yellow cane with erect leaves, are quite distinctive. The clone proved to be extremely susceptible to mosaic and is practically extinct. These excellent drawings of Creole showed that our own specimens from Santo Domingo and Spain, which had to be destroyed because of mosaic infection, were authentic. SÜGAKCANE 3 to the photoperiod and as far as practicable to other elements of the environment in at least one station {14)- The practical purpose of the overall project was to try to provide a broader base of knowledge for applied research on the improvement of sugarcane by breeding, taking into account the elementary char- acteristics of the plant groups that could be determined by observa- tion, tests, or planned experiments. Regarding the particular group under reference in this handbook, it is part of our purpose to direct attention to the exploited and still unexploited values in the largely untapped reservoir of garden canes. IMPORTANCE OF SACCHARUM OFFICINARUM The indispensable sugar-bearing component of essentially all the numerous and widespread varieties of domesticated sugarcane, which form a complex of polyploid hybrids, is provided by a few selected representatives of the tropical, thick-stemmed horticultural species Saccharum officinarum. The high weight per cane, self-thrashing of the cane, and the high tonnage per acre of the crop are also directly endowed by the same selected representatives of the tropical garden canes under reference in this handbook. Less generally recognized but nevertheless important qualities found within the species are resistance to some formidable diseases and, considering the tropical origin, a sur- prising