atoll research bulletin no. 392 the flora of - Smithsonian Institution ...

Oplismenus hirtellus (L.) Beauv. var. "basket grass"
syns. Panicum hirtellum L.; Orthopogon imbecillus R. Br.; Oplismenus imbecil-
lus (R. Br.) R & S.; 0. undulatifolius (Ard.) Beauv.
Recent introduction. Pantropical. Rare. Slender, much-branched creeping or
ascending perennial grass, up to 30 cm or higher; leaves, 5 to 10 cm long and 8 to 12
mm wide, lanceolate, with an acute tip and an asymmetrical base, pubescent, especially
below, blade wavy; inflorescence, small flower clusters, with purplish bristles, borne on
the upper 7 to 15 cm of a erect unbranching flower stem. In open wea in Topside forest.
7(22322).
Panicum subquadriparum Trin .
syn . Brachiaria subquadripara (Trin .) Hitch.
Recent introduction. Trop. Asia. Rare. Perennial creeping grass with stems
(culms) 20 to 60 cm long, rooting at the lower nodes; leaves, 2.5 to 12 cm long and up
to 4 to 10 mm wide, acuminate, nerves pubescent, with a hairy leaf sheath; inflores-
cence, an open, slender, elongated panicle, 5 to 15 cm long, with 2 to 10 spike-like,
solitary, horizon,tally spreading racemes, 2 to 10 cm long, bearing lanceolate, sharp-
tipped spikelets, 2 to 5 mm long, in 2 rows on one side. Rare around Buada Lagoon.
5(83), 6(155).
Saccharum officinarum L. "sugar cane"
tugage (N)("sugarcaneM); te kai tioka, te kai soka ("the sugar treeW)(K); kaleve
gau, tolo (T)
syn. S. chineme Roxb. ex Nees in H & A.
Pre-World War I introduction? New Guinea and Trop. Asia. Occasional. Large
clump-forming erect perennial grass with strong thick unbranched stems, 2 to 4 m tall
and 2.5 cm or more in diameter, with short conspicuous internodes filled with solid juicy
pulp; leaves, 45 cm or more long and 3 cm or more wide, smooth, overlapping, finelysaw-toothed,
loosely clustered near the top of stems, with hairy overlapping leaf sheaths;
inflorescence, straight wandlike terminal stalk, panicle about 20 to 50 cm or more long,
borne at the top of each stem, with numerous densely-branched, feathery, pinkish to
silvery-white, many-jointed racemes or flower tassels, with spikelets, 4 to 5 mm long,
although most chewing cultivars rarely flower. Food plant in I-Kiribati and Tuvaluan
gardens at Location and Topside workshops. An important supplementary food plant
throughout most of the Pacific, with the sweet juicy pulp a source of sugar and an
important --- snack -- food > --- the leaves widely used for high quality-house thatching, gd the
chewing of the fibrous stems rFortedly a main factor in good dental hygiene, which is
ironic, given the role of processed sugar in tooth decay. Interspecific hybrids of S.
oficinarum and more fibrous wild canes, such as S. spontaneum and S. robustum, form