Common name: Sugarcane.

Scientific name: Saccharum officinarum L.

Family: Poaceae

Distribution and Habitat: It originated in Tropical Asia. It is widely cultivated in the Madeira Island due to its high commercial value and multiple uses, namely for honey production. According to Universal History, the Madeira Island is considered to be the first area of Atlantic occupation pioneer in sugar cultivation and in its exposure.

Description: This grass-like plant reaches up to 2 m in height. It is erect, perennial, with a cylindrical stalk, externally glabrous and with a varied colouration and internal vascular shafts. The internodes may be straight or zigzagged, with an extremelly varied lenght, thickness and shape. The leaves are simple, alternate and lance shaped, the blossoms are gathered in clusters. The fruit is dry and caryopsis-like.

Conservation statute and Threats: -

Observations: The sugarcane is conseidered the most important agricultural cultivation in the history of humanity, for it caused the biggest phenomenon in terms of human, economical, commercial and ecological mobility.