St. Augustine grass
A perennial St. Augustine grass having outstanding cold tolerance, along with good resistance to St. Augustine Decline Virus and gray leaf spot.
Latest The O. M. Scott & Sons Company Patents:
A St. Augustine grass which has been named "Seville" was disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 4,097, which issued on Sept. 6, 1977.
SUMMARY OF THE VARIETYThis invention relates to a new and distinct perennial St. Augustine grass selected from the progeny of the controlled pollination of Seville with the pollen from a cold tolerant selection obtained from Memphis, Tenn. This yellow anther, white stigma genotype was labeled 6-72-99 and propagated vegetatively by stolons to provide planting stock for studying performance and making comparisons to present commercial varieties.
The excellent cold tolerance, good overall appearance, and good resistance to St. Augustine Decline Virus and gray leaf spot of 6-72-99 along with other information, allow this genotype to be distinguished from other St. Augustine grasses.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATIONSFIG. 1 is a photograph of 6-72-99 St. Augustine turf;
FIG. 2 shows a single spike of 6-72-99 St. Augustine grass plant depicting yellow anthers and white stigmas protruding from several spikelets.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIETYGenotype 6-72-99 has a yellow anther color, a white stigma color, and an unreduced chromosome number of 18. The internodes are shorter and thicker than most commonly grown St. Augustine grass cultivars. Leaf blade length and leaf sheath length are significantly shorter than Floratam, a widely grown cultivar in Florida and Texas. The difference between 6-72-99 and Floratam in leaf blade length is accentuated under low light growing conditions. Floratam is noted for its poor shade performance in contrast to most St. Augustine grasses. The blade width of 6-72-99 is equal to or wider than other St. Augustine grasses. Measurements of the spike and related structures indicate that 6-72-99 has a longer spike, a longer peduncle, and a longer flag leaf sheath than other St. Augustine grasses except for Floratam. The chromosome numbers, anther and stigma color and morphological measurements of 6-72-99 and other St. Augustine grasses are compared in Tables 1, 2, 3 and 4.
TABLE 1
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Chromosome numbers, anther color and stigma color of
6-72-99 and other St. Augustine grasses.
Chromosome Anther Stigma
Selection/Variety
Number Color Color
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6-72-99 18 Yellow White
Bitterblue 27 Yellow Purple
Floratam 27 Yellow Purple
Floratine 27 Yellow Purple
Raleigh 18 Yellow White
Seville 18 Yellow Purple
Texas Common 18 Yellow White
California Common
18 Yellow White
1081 18 Purple Purple
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TABLE 2
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Comparative measurements of internode length and thickness
of 6-72-99 and other St. Augustine grasses.
Internode
Internode Length (cm)
Thickness (mm)
Selection/Variety
Florida.sup.(a)
Ohio.sup.(b,c)
Ohio.sup.(b)
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6-72-99 4.1 5.7 3.5
Bitterblue 3.7 6.9 2.7
Floratam 6.3 7.5 3.2
Floratine 4.7 5.8 2.7
Raleigh 5.8 7.0 3.2
Seville 4.5 6.8 2.7
Texas Common
-- 6.2 3.0
California Common
-- 4.2 2.4
1081 3.9 7.3 2.8
LSD (.05) 1.00 1.15 .24
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.sup.(a) Field planting Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Average length of thir
to seventh internodes on terminal end of stolon.
.sup.(b) Greenhouse planting Marysville, Ohio. Measurements taken on
unclipped potted plants.
.sup.(c) Length of third internode from terminal end of stolon.
TABLE 3
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Comparative Leaf Blade Length, Width and Sheath Length of
6-72-99 and other St. Augustine grasses.
Blade Length (cm)
Blade Sheath
Ohio.sup.(b)
Width.sup.(c)
Length.sup.(c)
Selection/ High.sup.(c)
Low.sup.(d)
(cm) (cm)
Variety Texas.sup.(a)
Light Light Ohio.sup.(b)
Ohio.sup.(b)
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6-72-99 3.0 7.3 16.7 1.8 3.3
Bitterblue
-- 7.4 17.5 1.5 2.8
Floratam 6.6 10.1 27.2 1.7 4.5
Floratine -- 8.6 16.3 1.4 3.2
Raleigh 3.9 7.8 13.8 1.7 3.7
Seville 2.9 6.9 18.4 1.4 2.9
Texas Common
2.7 8.1 16.6 1.7 3.6
California
-- 3.8 11.8 1.2 2.2
Common
1081 -- 7.8 15.2 1.5 3.2
LSD(.05) .77 2.03 3.25 0.17 0.71
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.sup.(a) Field Planting Cleveland, Texas.
.sup.(b) Greenhouse Planting Marysville, Ohio. Measurements taken on
unclipped potted plants.
.sup.(c) After a period of natural sunlight and a high level supplemental
light.
.sup.(d) After a lengthy period of very cloudy conditions and no
supplemental light.
TABLE 4
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Comparative measurements of the inflorescence and related
structures of 6-72-99 and other St. Augustine grasses.sup.(a).
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Spike Peduncle
Length Width Length
Width
Selection/Variety
(mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)
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6-72-99 93 5.3 68 2.1
Bitterblue 78 5.6 61 2.2
Floratam 96 5.9 83 2.4
Floratine 74 5.8 48 2.3
Raleigh 72 5.8 62 2.2
Seville 71 4.9 50 1.9
Texas Common 68 4.9 42 1.9
1081 78 5.2 60 1.9
LSD(.05) 10.0 .64 18.3 0.28
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Flag Leaf Flag Leaf Sheath
Length Width Length
Selection/Variety
(mm) (mm) (mm)
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6-72-99 21 6.7 46
Bitterblue 22 6.4 44
Floratam 35 6.3 46
Floratine 27 7.2 39
Raleigh 25 7.5 42
Seville 15 5.8 38
Texas Common
29 7.1 39
1081 25 6.3 39
LSD(.05) 12.4 1.08 6.7
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.sup.(a) Greenhouse planting Marysville, Ohio.
Field observations of 6-72-99 indicate that it has generally good turf quality characteristics throughout the year. However, it excels during the cooler winter and early spring months in its turf quality and its ability to avoid injury to occasional cold and freezing temperatures. These characteristics of 6-72-99 as compared with other St. Augustine grasses is illustrated in Tables 5, 6 and 7.
TABLE 5
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Comparative turf quality.sup.(a) of 6-72-99 and other
St. Augustine grasses at various locations in the U.S.
Turf Quality
Florida
Fort California
Lauderdale
SCFS.sup.(h)
Selection/ Expt Expt Expt Expt
Variety Apopka.sup.(b)
1.sup.(c)
2.sup.(d)
3.sup.(e)
4.sup.(f)
Somas.sup.(g)
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6-72-99 7.4 7.5 5.8 6.1 4.7 4.9
Bitterblue
6.2 5.6 5.9 -- -- --
Floralawn -- -- 7.1 -- -- --
Floratam 5.9 6.5 7.2 -- 3.9 --
Floratine 6.2 5.3 6.2 -- -- --
Raleigh 6.6 3.0 -- -- 3.6 --
Seville 7.8 7.3 6.3 6.7 -- 5.3
Texas Common
7.5 -- -- 5.9 4.5 3.6
California
-- -- -- 6.1 4.6 5.3
Common
1081 7.2 6.1 5.5 -- -- --
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.sup.(a) Quality rated 1-10, 10 = best.
.sup.(b) Mean over 4 years with a total of 8 evaluations.
.sup.(c) Mean of 5 dates of evaluations.
.sup.(d) Mean of 15 dates of evaluations.
.sup.(e) Mean of 25 dates of evaluations.
.sup.(f) Mean of 6 dates of evaluations.
.sup.(g) Mean of 2 dates of evaluations.
.sup.(h) South Coast Field Station University of California.
TABLE 6
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Comparative turf quality.sup.(a) of 6-72-99 and other
St. Augustine grasses during the winter season or
early spring at various locations in the U.S.
Turf Quality
Apopka.sup.(b)
Cleveland.sup.(c)
SCFS.sup.(d)
Selection/Variety
Florida Texas California
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6-72-99 9.9 6.4 5.4
Bitterblue 5.0 -- --
Floratam 5.6 6.0 --
Floratine 5.8 6.0 --
Raleigh 7.7 -- --
Seville 7.8 6.2 4.5
Texas Common
8.9 6.2 4.2
California Common
-- -- 4.6
1081 6.4 4.8 --
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.sup.(a) Quality rated 1-10, 10 = best.
.sup.(b) Mean of 3 dates of evaluations.
.sup.(c) Mean of 5 dates of evaluations.
.sup.(d) South Coast Field Station University of California Mean of 6
dates of evaluations.
TABLE 7
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Comparative cold injury of 6-72-99 and other
St. Augustine grasses in Apopka, Florida.
Cold Injury (%)
Selection/Variety
Expt. 1 Expt. 2 Mean
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6-72-99 0 0 0
Bitterblue 53 38 45
Floratam 40 42 41
Floratine 48 32 40
Raleigh 32 12 22
Seville 35 15 25
Texas Common 18 7 12
1081 47 33 40
LSD(.05) 20.9 18.5
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Color of turf is an important component of turf quality. 6-72-99 has a pleasing green color throughout the year. In addition, minimizing loss of green color due to herbicide injury, cold, or other causes is also important in maintaining good quality turf for 6-72-99. Besides green color or loss of green color, St. Augustine grasses have a tendency to have a purple coloring in the stem. 6-72-99 has a low level of purpling in the stems. Minimizing the number of seedheads in turf is also important in maintaining high quality turf. 6-72-99 has a medum level of flowering shoots in turf. This information is illustrated in Tables 8, 9 and 10.
TABLE 8
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Comparative color ratings of 6-72-99 and other
St. Augustine grasses at various locations in the U.S.
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Color.sup.(a)
Florida
Selection/Variety
Apopka.sup.(b)
Fort Lauderdale.sup.(c)
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6-72-99 8.9 1.8
Bitterblue 7.9 3.0
Floratam 8.4 2.9
Floratine 7.9 2.9
Raleigh 7.1 2.0
Seville 8.8 2.0
Texas Common 8.0 --
California Common
-- --
1081 8.5 1.3
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Color.sup.(a)
California Texas
Selection/Variety
Somas.sup.(d)
SCFS.sup.(e)
Cleveland.sup.(f)
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6-72-99 7.9 7.0 6.8
Bitterblue -- -- --
Floratam -- -- 6.8
Floratine -- -- 6.8
Raleigh -- -- --
Seville 7.5 8.6 6.7
Texas Common
5.9 4.2 6.8
California Common
7.7 6.5 --
1081 -- -- 5.6
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.sup.(a) Color rated 1-10, 10 darkest green unless noted otherwise.
.sup.(b) Mean of 8 evaluations.
.sup.(c) Rated 1-3, 3 = darker green.
.sup.(d) Mean of 3 evaluations.
.sup.(e) South Coast Field Station
.sup.(f) Mean of 5 evaluations.
TABLE 9
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Comparative ratings of various attributes of 6-72-99 and other
St. Augustine grasses which detract from overall appearance.
Selection/ Dis- Chlo- Seed
Variety Brown.sup.(a)
color.sup.(b)
rosis.sup.(c)
Asulox.sup.(d)
Heads.sup.(e)
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6-72-99 3.7 1 20.0 0 400
Bitterblue
-- -- 14.5 12 200
Floralawn -- -- -- -- 120
Floratam 6.3 -- 11.0 0 60
Floratine -- -- 7.5 2 80
Raleigh 8.3 -- 10.0 10 --
Seville -- 0 17.5 3 1110
Texas Common
5.7 0 17.0 0 --
California
4.0 4 -- -- --
Common
1081 -- -- 14.5 7 650
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.sup.(a) South Coast Field Station University of California Rated as %
brown turf.
.sup.(b) South Coast Field Station Rated as % discolored turf.
.sup.(c) Apopka, Florida Rated as % chlorotic turf.
.sup.(d) Apopka, Florida Rated as % injury.
.sup.(e) Fort Lauderdale, Florida Rated as the number of seedheads per
square meter.
TABLE 10
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Comparative evaluations of purple stem color of
6-72-99 and other St. Augustine grasses.
Purple Stem Color.sup.(a)
Florida
Selection/
Ohio Fort California
Variety Marysville.sup.(b)
Lauderdale
Apopka SCFS
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6-72-99 3.5 4.5 5 0.7
Bitterblue
8.0 5.3 30 --
Floratam 8.3 6.1 33 2.7
Floratine
8.0 6.3 10 --
Raleigh 6.0 4.0 14 1.7
Seville 4.0 4.5 1 --
Texas 4.5 -- 9 1.0
Common
1081 7.5 5.9 52 --
LSD(.05) 1.1 0.9
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.sup.(a) Purple stem color rated 1-10, 10 = stolons are very purple, 1 =
stolons are entirely green. For Apopka, visual estimation of the level of
stem purpling in percent.
.sup.(b) Test planted in the greenhouse.
Tolerance to various diseases and insects is important for maintaining good quality turf with minimum levels of pesticides. 6-72-99 has shown resistance to St. Augustine grass Decline Virus inoculations in the laboratory. In field studies, it has shown a good level of resistance to gray leaf spot (Pyricularia grisea) and dollarspot (Curvularia sp.). Tolerance to insects is an extremely difficult characteristic to measure accurately. For chinchbugs (Blissus sp.) and sod webworm (Crambus sp.), 6-72-99 has shown tolerance levels equal to most other St. Augustine grasses.
TABLE 11
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Comparative disease ratings of 6-72-99 and
other St. Augustine grasses.
Gray Leaf Spot.sup.(a)
Dollarspot.sup.(d)
Selection/
Apopka.sup.(b)
Fort Lauderdale.sup.(c)
Fort Lauderdale
Variety Florida Florida Florida
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6-72-99 1.0 4.0 0.0
Bitterblue
3.5 6.6 0.2
Floratam 3.8 4.0 0.0
Floratine 2.6 7.0 0.5
Raleigh 0.7 3.6 --
Seville 0.8 3.8 0.0
Texas Common
2.4 -- --
1081 2.2 2.7 0.3
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.sup.(a) Rated 1-10, 10 = most disease.
.sup.(b) Mean of two evaluations.
.sup.(c) Mean of two evaluations.
.sup.(d) Rating based on number of spots per square meter.
TABLE 12
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Comparative ratings of insect tolerance of 6-72-99 and
other St. Augustine grasses.
Chinchbugs.sup.(a)
Sod Webworms.sup.(b)
Selection/Variety
Florida.sup.(c)
California.sup.(d)
Florida.sup.(e)
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6-72-99 2.0 0.0 49
Bitterblue 5.0 -- 24
Floratam 7.0 -- 18
Floratine 2.7 -- 24
Raleigh 6.3 -- 44
Seville 5.7 0.3 39
Texas Common
4.7 2.0 --
California Common
-- 3.0 --
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.sup.(a) Rated 1-10, 10 = severe damage.
.sup.(b) Rated as % damage.
.sup.(c) Planted in the greenhouse at Apopka, Florida.
.sup.(d) South Coast Field Station, University of California.
.sup.(e) Planted in containers at Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Mean of two
evaluations.
Claims
1. A St. Augustine grass, substantially as herein illustrated and described.
Type: Grant
Filed: Aug 7, 1986
Date of Patent: Nov 1, 1988
Assignee: The O. M. Scott & Sons Company (Marysville, OH)
Inventors: Wayne C. Mixson (Apopka, FL), Terrance P. Riordan (Lincoln, NE), Virgil D. Meier (Marysville, OH)
Primary Examiner: Robert E. Bagwill
Application Number: 6/893,960
International Classification: A01H 500;
