Saccharum

Saccharum is a genus of tall perennial grasses, family Poaceae, tribe Andropogoneae, comprising roughly 28 accepted species as of a September 2021 count, with additional related species reclassified into genera such as Tripidium and Lasiorhachis. Members are widespread across tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions of Africa, Eurasia, Australia, the Americas and assorted oceanic islands, marked by stout, jointed, fibrous stalks generally rich in sugar that can measure two to six meters tall. The best known species, Saccharum officinarum, sugarcane, originated in New Guinea and has since naturalized in many warm regions worldwide; commercial sugarcane cultivars are complex hybrids because species within the genus readily interbreed. Other species include Saccharum spontaneum, found across Asia, Africa, Sicily and Papuasia, and Saccharum robustum, endemic to New Guinea.