Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
2
Turf-grass Species
All grasses belong to a single family of plants, the
Poaceae.
This family is
divided into six subfamilies, which incorporate 25 tribes, 600 genera and
7500 species. Only 30-40 species are used as turf-grasses. All turf-grass
species are within the three subfamilies:
Festucoideae
,
Panicoideae
and
Eragrostoideae
. Turf-grasses in the
Festucoideae
are usually adapted to
cool climates. Those in the
Panicoideae
and
Eragrostoideae
are adapted
to warm climates. This volume will address management of warm-
season grasses only, but because some tropical locations in the mountains
or other high elevations use cool-season species, a short description of
major cool-season grasses appears at the end of this chapter. Cool-season
and warm-season grasses require substantially different management
practices, so the information provided in this volume may not be fully
adequate for tropical locations with unusually cool climates.
Warm-season Turf-grasses
The genus Cynodon (Eragrostoideae)
Cynodon dactylon
is known, in various regions around the world, by at
least 20 different common names. The most popular are Bermuda grass,
Bahama grass, devil's grass, couch grass, Indian doob, dog-tooth grass
and wire grass. In this volume, the common name 'common cynodon' or
just 'cynodon' will be used for
C. dactylon
(Fig. 2.1).
