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1. Grass adaptations Warm season and cool season grasses
Morphological adaptations
Root tillering, depth
Leaf orientation, rolling
Microscopic adaptations
Leaf anatomy
Leaf epidermal features
Physiological adaptation
C4 photosynthesis
Some examples
2. Dune grasses Problems:
Lots of wind
Unstable, nutrient-poor substrate (sand)
Lack of fresh water
4. Grasses for stabilizing dues American beachgrass Ammophila breviligulata
Northern cool season grass
Sea oats, more common Virginia south
Warm season grass
Bitter panicum Panicum amarum
Warm season grass, found throughout
Saltmeadow cordgrass (Spartina patens)
More tolerant of saline conditions
5. American beachgrass
Ammophila breviligulata
Northern cool season grass
Most common dune grass
6. Can withstand being buried by sand
Makes huge mat of underground rhizomes
Roots may extend over 10 feet under the sand
7. Leaf adaptations to wind, dry conditions
Inrolled leaf
Surface hairs
9. Uniola paniculata Sea oats
more common Virginia south
Warm season grass
10. Not to be confused with northern sea oats More of an inland plant
Highly ornamental, can be a bit invasive
11. Panicum amarum Bitter panic grass
Warm season grass
Found throughout east
and south coast of US
Used to stabilize dunes
12. Spartina patens Saltmeadow cordgrass
More tolerant of saline conditions
Salt glands and other adaptations
13. Prairie grasses Source of topsoil
Biofuel potential
15. Panicum virgatum
17. Cool season grasses
More growth spring and fall, may go dormant in heat of summer
Most commonly recommended lawn grasses for our area
Warm season grasses
Start growth later in spring
Lawn grasses for southern US
19. Roots of grasses Some stay near surface, some go very deep
20. Adventitious roots in grasses True root short-lived
Roots develop from stems
Fibrous rather than tap roots
21. Tillering in grasses Tillering complex, involves additional lateral stem growth
Lateral buds in short stem develop
22. Tiller differences
23. Horizontal and vertical leaf orientation
24. Leaf adaptation to drought