ribbon cane

plural ribbon canes

1. Southern UScountableuncountableSugar cane; specifically, striped varieties of sugar cane grown in the southern United States.

   Say, Matt, gimme a jint or two of dat green cane—dis ribbon cane is hard.

   1930, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Mule Bone, HarperCollins, published 1991, act I, page 49

   4 more examples

   The ribbon cane […] is called by the French rouge et d’or, being longitudinally striped yellow and deep red. It grows as high as the Bourbon, but is slenderer, and of course resists wind less.

   1803, Robert Charles Dallas, The History of the Maroons, London: Longman and Rees, Volume 2, Letter 18, p. 336

   “We’ll grow fine ribbon cane here. The soil is perfect for it. We’ll have all the sugar we want. But we must be patient.”

   1944, Katherine Anne Porter, “The Old Order”, in The Leaning Tower and Other Stories, New York: Harcourt Brace, page 55

   The voice she heard was slowly rough and delicately brutal, like stones being rattled in a can of ribbon cane syrup.

   1966, J. J. Phillips, chapter 1, in Mojo Hand, Berkeley: City Miner Books, published 1985, page 8

   His knees clacked together like stalks of ribbon cane rattling in a high wind.

   1994, Joe R. Lansdale, “Bubba Ho-Tep”, in The Best of Joe R. Lansdale, San Francisco: Tachyon Publications, published 2010, pages 51–52