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City street,
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Zoysiagrasses are naturally distributed (Ohwi, 1965) and grown extensively as a
turf (Maki, 1976) in temperate east Asia, and two species extend throughout Malesia
(Goudswaard, 1980). Unlike other warm-season grasses, zoysiagrasses flower in response to
short days (Youngner, 1961). Because of their high density and rhizomatous growth habit,
zoysiagrasses tend to crowd out other plants.
Zoysia was probably
involved in the first recorded reference to turf, in the "Man-yo-shu", a
collection of poems from 759 A.D. (Maki, 1976). Subsequent references to sodding occurred
in the "Saku-tei-ki", a gardening book published in Japan in 1156. According to
Maki (1976) the lawn garden was connected with the tea ceremony, and commercial sod
farming began in 1701. Zoysia japonica Steud. and other species grow wild in native
grasslands in Japan. A finer species, Z. matrella (L.) Merr., was introduced to Japan from
China in 1713. In the late 1920's "Koraishiba" (Zoysia sp.) was used on the
course at the Kobe Golf Club in Japan (Kakuda, 1987). By 1970 there were 26 cultivars of
Zoysia reported in Japan (Kitamura, 1970, cited by Maki, 1976).
Zoysiagrass was
introduced to the United States before 1895 (Hanson et al., 1974). In 1902 David Fairchild
(1938) observed "Birodoshiba" (Z. pungens Willd. = Z. matrella) growing as a
velvet-like turf in gardens around Tokyo. He introduced P.I. 9299, which may have been the
first recorded zoysiagrass in the U. S. In 1912 Piper observed attractive lawns of
zoysiagrass in the Philippines (Piper, 1915). The value of zoysia in the United States was
immediately obvious when it was introduced. By 1916 it was stated that zoysiagrass
"seems to be succeeding in Florida as a lawn grass" and "is worthy of trial
in sand-hill districts or on saline lands near the coast" (Fairchild, 1920). Zoysia
has been used principally in the warm and cool season transitional belt from New England
to Missouri and further south.
Clonal selections from
the United States have included Zoysia japonica Steud. 'Meyer' (1951, U. S. Dept. of
Agric. and U. S. Golf Assoc.), which is adapted to the north Atlantic coast of the United
States, and Z. japonica X Z. matrella var. pacifica Goudswaard (= Z. tenuifolia Thiele =
Z. tenuifolia Willd. ex Trin.) 'Emerald' (Forbes, 1962). Because of the extensive
cross-compatibility of zoysia species (Forbes, 1952), they may be considered as one
species (Forbes, personal communication). Z. matrella is grown in south Asia (Greenfield,
1974) but establishes slowly in Kenya (Bogdan, 1970). In addition to its slow
establishment, major problems with zoysiagrasses include excessive thatch development
(Dunn et al., 1981), and nematodes (Busey et al., 1982; Grisham et al., 1974).
There has been renewed interest in the use of zoysia in low-maintenance areas, for
example, roadsides, where it might be intermixed with other species, e.g., tall fescue
(Festuca arundinacea Schreb.). Strains of Z. japonica or possibly Z. micrantha from Korea
have shown promise for establishment from seed.
References
Bogdan, A. V. 1970. Turfgrasses in Kenya. p. 51-56. In Proc. First Int.
Turfgrass Res. Conf., Harrogate, England. 15-18 July 1969. Sports Turf Research Institute,
Bingley, England.
Busey, P., J. A. Reinert, and R. A.
Atilano. 1982. Genetic and environmental determinants of zoysiagrass adaptation in a
subtropical region. J. Amer. Soc. Hort. Sci. 107:79-82.
Dunn, J. H., K. M. Scheffer, and P. M. Halisky. 1981. Thatch and quality of Meyer zoysia
in relation to management. Agron. J. 73:949-952.
Fairchild, D. 1920. Plant Inventory. (Comments on Plant Introductions 42389 and 42678,
zoysiagrass; and 46415, centipedegrass). U. S. Dept. of Agr. Agr. Res. Serv. (Formerly,
Inventory, Bureau of Plant Industry).
Fairchild, D. 1938. The world was my garden: travels of a plant explorer. Charles
Scribner's Sons, New York, NY.
Forbes, I. 1952. Chromosome numbers and hybrids in Zoysia. Agron. J. 44:194-199.
Forbes, I. 1962. Registration of Emerald zoysiagrass. Crop Sci. 2:533-534.
Goudswaard, P. C. 1980. The genus Zoysia (Gramineae) in Malesia. Blumea 26:169-175.
Greenfield, I. 1974. Turfgrass developments in southeast Asia. p. 438-444. In: E. C.
Roberts (ed.) Proc. Second Int. Turfgrass Res Conf., Blacksburg, VA. 19-21 June 1973. ASA
and CSSA, Madison, WI.
Grisham, M. P., J. L. Dale, and R. D. Riggs. 1974. Meloidogyne graminis and Meloidogyne
spp. on Zoysia: Infection, reproduction, disease development, and control. Phytopathology
64:1485-1489.
Hanson, A. A., F. V. Juska, and G. W. Burton. 1974. Species and varieties. In A. A. Hanson
and F. V. Juska (eds.) Turfgrass science. Agronomy 14:370-409. Amer. Soc. Agron., Madison,
WI.
Kakuda, S. 1987. Overview of the turfgrass industry in Japan. Lawn Inst. Harvests 34:5.
The Lawn Institute, Pleasant Hill, TN.
Kitamura, F. 1970. Studies on the horticultural classification and
development of Japanese lawn grasses. Bull. Kemigawa Arboretum, Fac. of Agric. Univ. of
Tokyo 3:1-60.
Maki, Y. 1976. Utilization, research activities and problems of turfgrass in Japan. Rasen
7:24-28.
Ohwi, J. 1965. Flora of Japan. Smithsonian Inst., Washington, D. C.
Piper, C. V. 1915. P.I. 34657. Osterdamia matrella (L.) Kuntze (Zoysia pungens Willd.). In
Plant inventory 33:43. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 84.
Piper, C. V. 1915. P.I. 34657. Osterdamia matrella (L.) Kuntze (Zoysia pungens Willd.). In
Plant inventory 33:43. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C.
Youngner, V. B. 1961. Growth and flowering of Zoysia species in response to temperatures,
photoperiods, and light intensities. Crop Sci. 1:91-93. |
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