Description: The sugar cane is supposed to be originated from South-west Asia. Its cultivation was implemented by the Portuguese people in Cape Verde, S. Tome and Prince and Brazil, becoming quite important for the colonial economy and for using slave labor until the end of the XIX century.
Although the sugar cane cultivation is not common in Portugal, in the Quinta da Vitoria neighborhood several areas were used for cultivation. The area made available by the demolitions was a way of increasing the production of this plant. According to Benvindo Moreira, the sugar cane was cultivated essentially to produce molasses and grogue (sugar cane spirit) for selling. (*)
Provided by: Benvindo Moreira, a Cape Verde- born Portuguese.
Present Location: Vitoria Garden Collection (it was transplanted from Quinta da Vitoria neighborhood in October 2014)
Last revision date: March 2016
(I) Numbering in accordance with the archive of trees and plants identified in the Quinta da Vitoria 2012 and 2013.
(II) Mabberley, David J. Mabberley´s Plant-Book: A Portable Dictionary of Plants, their Classifications and Uses. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
(*)Testimonies of residents gathered in a set of recorded conversations in the neighborhood of Quinta da Vitória and after the demolition in Lisbon, Loures and London between July 2012 and October 2014.
