Gelagah (Saccharum spontaneum)

Gelagah (Saccharum spontaneum) is a species of plants in Poaceae, chronic large grass, reeds spread widely in the tropics with rhizomes that spread long and erect stems, stout, thick hollow and 2-4 meters high.

S. spontaneum has a broad, green stem that is covered in a layer of white wax. Leaves and midribs have a length of 20 cm or more, purplish in color and triangular ligula with short hairs.



Ribbon-shaped leaves, 50-200 cm long, 3-30 mm wide, green, rough surface and sharp margins, a large white bone runs linearly in the middle, getting to the middle getting bigger and narrowing to the sharp end.

Flowers are collected in branch panicles that are branched, ovoid, dense and 20-50 cm long. Branch-shaped branches, 3-15 cm long, containing pairs of spikelet with a stem and the other sitting. From the base of the spikelet grows long white hairs.

Gelagah grows at an altitude of 0-1,700 m with high rainfall which is usually more than 1,500 mm/year. This grass is easy and fast-growing, adapts well to alluvial soils on river banks to sandy soils in former mines and volcanoes, resistant to drought and flooding.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Panicoideae
Tribe: Andropogoneae
Subtribe: Saccharinae
Genus: Saccharum L. in Sp. Pl.: 54 (1753)
Species: Saccharum spontaneum L. in Mant. Pl. 2: 183 (1771)
Subspecies: Saccharum spontaneum subsp. aegyptiacum (Willd.) Hack., Saccharum spontaneum subsp. spontaneum

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Imperata spontanea (L.) P.Beauv. in Ess. Agrostogr.: 8 (1812)
Saccharifera spontanea (L.) Stokes in Bot. Mat. Med. 1: 132 (1812)
Saccharum spontaneum subsp. indicum Hack. in A.L.P.P.de Candolle & A.C.P.de Candolle, Monogr. Phan. 6: 113 (1889)

PUBLICATIONS

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Newman, M., Ketphanh, S., Svengsuksa, B., Thomas, P., Sengdala, K., Lamxay, V. & Armstrong, K. (2007). A checklist of the vascular plants of Lao PDR: 1-394. Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh.

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VERNACULAR NAME

Bali: Glagah
Batak: Galoga, Tolong, Bona ni tolong
Bengali: কানশ Kansh
Bima: Kĕnu
Chinese (simplified): 甜根子草
Chinese (traditional): 甜根子草 - 伊師迦
Enggano: Kifo-kifo
English: Gelagah, Wild sugarcane, Kans grass, Wild cane, Wild sugarcane, Kans grass, Fodder cane, African fodder cane, Asian fodder cane
Filipino: Talahib, Tigbau, Sidda
French: Canne à sucre sauvage, Canne à sucre fourragère
Gujarati: Kansado
Hebrew: קנה סוכר מצרי
Hindi: कांस Kaans
Indonesian: Gelagah
Japanese: ワセオバナ - 広義
Java: Glagah
Kannada: Kaadu kabbu, Hucchu kabbu, Tejanaka
Khmer: 'âm'pëu préi
Lampung: Tĕbiu
Lao: ຟອງ - ລໍ
Madura: Ghalaghas, Tĕbhu sala
Malayalam: Choottapullu, Kusa, Kusadarbha, Kuruvikarimbu, Nannana, Njangan
Manipuri: Ee
Marathi: Bagberi, Kamis
Melayu: Gĕlagah, Tĕbu salah
Minangkabau: Galagah, Kalagah
Nepali: कान्स Kaans
North Maluku: Dalina, Kakano dasosoöra, Bongo-bongo, Jojo, Siuhu
North Sulawesi: Saraw, Hèpu
Nusa Tenggara: Tetebu
Polish: Cukrowiec dziki
Russian: Сахарный тростник дикий
Sasak: Tlĕngat
Slovak: Trstina divorastúca
Spanish: Caña silvestre, Paja blanca
Sunda: Kaso
Taiwan: 甜根子草
Tamil: பெக்கரிம்பு Pekkarimpu
Telugu: Kaki ceruku, Rellugaddi
Thai: เลา - ฟง - ลาว
Timor: Tatebu
Vietnam: Co' lách

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