Technical note: Morphobotanical characterization of three turfgrass species

Abstract

The Experimental Station of Pastures and Forages “Indio Hatuey” has a germplasm of turfgrass species consisting in 12 accessions from four genera, which purpose is the ornamental use mainly for gardens and golf courses; however, their primary documentation does not exist. For such reason, the objective of this work was to characterize the species Paspalum salam, Zoysia japonica and Stenotaphrum secundatum. For this purpose, 11 quantitative and 9 qualitative characters were used. After performing a range analysis of the quantitative indicators, the three species are concluded to show appropriate characteristics for their use as ornamental plants. P. salam and Z. japonica are suitable for turf development and S. secundatum for gardens; yet, the latter can not be discarded, because it has intrinsic characteristics that should be taken into consideration when planning a breeding program of ornamental species.