Saccharum spontaneum: an underutilized tall grass for revegetation and restoration programs

Abstract

Saccharum spontaneum L. is a perennial tall grass and invades naturally abandoned and pastoral lands in many tropical countries. Although it is a potentially multiple-use and multifunctional species, it remains neglected and underutilized. It is commonly known as ‘Wild cane’ in English and ‘Kans’ in Hindi. In recent years, S. spontaneum has attracted serious attention for its potential in ecological restoration. The present paper deals with geographic distribution, ecology, morphological description, multiple uses, restoration potential, and propagation of this species. We also report the suitability of S. spontaneum for the restoration and stabilization of bare fly ash (FA) dumps. In this context, the highest importance value index, visual observations and practitioner insights reveal that S. spontaneum has great ability to grow on bare FA dumps and can be used as an ecological tool in restoration of vast tracts of fly ash dumps across the world. Besides grass vegetation study, we also report the change in physicochemical properties of abandoned site and compared with naturally colonized site with S. spontaneum of FA dumps to assess its ecological suitability for restoration of bare FA dump. Overall, the field results showed that S. spontaneum is a promising and potential tall grass for the restoration of FA dumps.