In this study,the taxonomic status of an elite sugarcane germplasm,‘Deyang Dayezi’ in the Saccharum L.was ascertained by comparing the phenotypical,karyotypical and SSR markers data to that of S.officinarum L.,S.sinense R.,S.barberi J.and hybrid varieties,to provide a base for the utilization of this germplasm in interspecific hybridization.The results showed that:(1)Both phenotypic trait analysis and SSR marker analysis showed that S.officinarum,S.sinense and the hybrid varieties were clustered into three groups,and the average phenotypic similarity coefficients between ‘Deyang Dayezi’ and S.officinarum,S.sinense,S.barberi and the hybrid varieties were 0.51,0.71,0.55 and 0.31,respectively,suggesting the closest relativeness between ‘Deyang Dayezi’ and S.sinense;(2)The karyotype analysis showed that the karyotype of ‘Deyang Dayezi’ was 2n=116=4M+104m+8sm,which belonging to the 2B karyotype,and fell into with the chromosome number range of S.sinense;(3)The UPGMA cluster analysis of SSR markers derived from the 13 primer pairs showed that the average similarity coefficients between ‘Deyang Dayezi’ and S.officinarum,S.sinense,S.barberi and the hybrid varieties were 0.70,0.69,0.68 and 0.69,respectively,and there was not significant difference in these similarity coefficients.Theses results suggested that ‘Deyang Dayezi’ could be included in the species of S.sinense or be considered as a low pedigree material of S.sinense hybrids.