Grass is a very important part of the golf course. Have you ever asked yourself “I wonder what kind of grass that is?” Well there are a few easy things you can do to help identify different types of grass. Some you can see with the naked eye, while others feature you’ll need the assistance of a hand lens. Some of the classic identification features include:
F Vernation – folded or rolled
F Ligules – membranous , smooth or pointed
F Auricles- absent, short or long
F Adaxial leaf surfaces – ridged or smooth
F Abaxial leaf surfaces – keeled or flat
F Growth habit – rhizomatous, stoloniferous or bunch-type
You cannot just look at one thing when identifying grasses; you need to look at three and four things because many grass types have a lot of similar characteristics. Two commonly misidentified grasses are Perennial Rye and Kentucky bluegrass two easy ways to tell them apart is the upper leaf surface, Perennial Rye has a deeply ridge top leaf surface, where as Kentucky bluegrass is prominently smooth. Another key identification feature between the two is that Kentucky bluegrass has rhizomes, where the rye grass is a bunch-type grass. A common way to identify bentgrass is by their ligules and the ridged upper leaf surface. You can use these key features to identify just about any type of grass including fescues, ryegrass, bent grasses, bluegrass and more
