Saccharum officinarum L.

vernacular sugarcane — species · Poaceae

USDA: SAOF
GBIF: 2703912
Rank: species

sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) — Platephotograph · beingplaceCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Graminoid
Duration: Perennial
Group: Monocot
Family: Poaceae Barnhart
Genus: Saccharum

§2a

Native status, by region

L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
PB Pacific Basin (except Hawaii) Introduced
PR Puerto Rico Introduced
VI U.S. Virgin Islands Introduced

§2b

County-level range

· 12 counties across 2 states/territories

Legend Native · 0 Introduced · 12 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: High
Shade: Medium
Moisture use: Medium
Fire: High
Salinity: Medium
Anaerobic: High
Hedging: High

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: 17 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 365 min.
Precipitation: 40–80 in/yr
pH range: 4–7
Root depth: 24 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Bunch
Growth rate: Rapid
Lifespan: Moderate
Mature height: 12 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Dense
Porosity (winter): Dense
Flower colour: White
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: Yes
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Late Winter
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Winter
Seed ends: Spring
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: No
Propagation: seed, sod, sprigs, tubers

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Routinely Available
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: High
Graze palatability: High
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Low
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 12 counties across 2 states/territories.

Florida view state ↗ 7 I ▾

Louisiana view state ↗ 5 I ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/SAOF ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2703912 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T10:50:45Z