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CANESUGAR.CHAPTER I.THE CANE.The sugar cane is a grass belonging (following Engler's classification) tothe cohort Glumiflorae, natural order Graminea, tribe Andropngonea, genusSaccharum.The genus. Sacharum is divided by Hackel 1 into four sub-genera, (a)Eusaccharum, (b) Sclerostycha, (c) Eriochrysis, (d) Leptosacharum. A detailedaccount of these sub-genera will be found in Kruger's Das Zuckerrohr .2 Thecultivated species Saecharum officinarum, belongs to the first sub-genus, and isitself divided, by Hackel into three groups.(a) genuinum. Stem pale green to yellow, darker yellow near theground. Leaf, grass-green, underside sea-green.(b) violaceum. Stem, leaf sheath, lower side of leaves, panicle, violet.(c) litteratum. Stem dirty green or yellow, marked with dark red stripesat equal intervals.In the group genuinum is to be included the S. sinense, or Chinese cane;the group litteratum would include all ribbon canes, but as these sport frequentlyfrom self-coloured canes and vice versa, the distinction must not bepushed too far. Cordemoy 3 divided the canes known in the island of Bourboninto S. officinarum, S. violaceum, and S. sinense (the Chinese cane); elsewherein the literature of the cane the purple transparent or Black Cheribon cane issometimes found incorrectly called S. violaceum. The true S. violaceum occursindigenously in the Hawaiian Islands, and is known under the native nameof Manulele.The complete cane may be divided into the roots, the root-stock, thestem, the leaf, including leaf-sheath and blade, and the inflorescence.1