Zoysia matrella

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Zoysia matrella

Zoysia matrella line drawing^[1]

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Liliopsida
Order:	Poales
Family:	Poaceae
Subfamily:	Chloridoideae
Tribe:	Cynodonteae
Genus:	Zoysia
Species:	Z. matrella

Binomial name

Zoysia matrella
(L.) Merr.

Zoysia matrella (L.) Merr., commonly known as Manila Grass, is a species of mat-forming, perennial grass native to temperate coastal southeastern Asia and northern Australasia, from southern Japan (Ryukyu Islands), Taiwan, and southern China (Guangdong, Hainan) south through Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines to northern Australia (northeast Queensland), and west to the Cocos Islands in the eastern Indian Ocean.

It forms velvety green mats and spreading vigorously by stolons, or occasionally by rhizomes, once established, and favours low elevation sandy soils where other grasses do poorly. The stems are slender, prostrate, from 5-25 cm long. The leaves are alternate, produced at 1.5-3 cm intervals along the stem; they are slender, 2-10 cm long and 1-3 mm broad. The flowers are greenish, produced on erect racemes 6-35 mm long with a single 2-3.5 mm flower in each spikelet.

Two varieties are distinguished by some authors:

Zoysia matrella var. matrella
Zoysia matrella var. pacifica Goudswaard

Botanical synonyms include Agrostis matrella (basionym), Osterdamia matrella, Z. pungens, and Z. tenuifolia (now distinguished as Zoysia matrella var. pacifica)^[2].

[edit] Cultivation and uses

It is grown as an ornamental grass, and is used on golf courses in East Asia, as a lawn grass in the southeast United States and Arizona, and is planted for grazing stock on tropical coconut plantations. It tolerates high salinity, making it ideal for coastal erosion control and for lawns in coastal areas.

Other common names include Korean grass, Manila templegrass, siglap grass (after an area in Singapore), temple grass, Mascarene grass, harishiba, hierba Manila (Spanish), Japanese carpet, jukut kakawatan hijau (Sundanese), rebha sekem-sekeman (Madurese), burikit (on Seram), rumput siglap (Malay), damong-alat, barit-baritan (Tagalog), malakuwerdas (Pangasinan), ya-nuannoi (Thai)^[3]. The variety of common names attest to its usefulness as a cultivated grass in diverse areas. It is naturalised in many places, as in Hawaii, and it can become weedy, like many plant species with desirable horticultural characteristics.