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GRASS
Grasses are an incredibly diverse group of plants, they range from annual to perennial and can be found in virtually all habitats.
The success of grasses can be attributed to the continual growth of their leaves. As they are grassed off, cut or mown they can simply regenerate fresh tissue. This is why you can succeed in mowing your lawn but not the flower beds.
Grass is a special green plant. Look at a grass leaf closely and you will see it has parallel veins. This is a key indicator of a plant belonging to the grass family.
The family name for grasses is Gramineae. They are sometimes also referred to as Poaceae, normally by American botanists.
Most plants grown as cereals belong to the grass family, for instance maize and wheat. Many grasses are used as ornamental plants and one of the best known is bamboo.
BAMBOO
The many characteristics of grass make it an ideal plant for use in sport. An athlete must train hard to win but to improve the performance of grass it must first undergo plant breeding. This is a long term business that may take up to 15 years before a new grass variety is ready for performance trials.
Grass varieties are assessed for shoot density, visual merit, resistance to disease, summer and winter colour. They may also undergo a series of wear, regrowth and cutting trials. Finally as in all competitive sports the new grass varieties are compared against each other. They are then assessed independently, awarded points based on overall performance and given a position in an annual league table.
When deciding on the grass varieties to use in a sports venue the groundsman will aim to select a blend of characteristics to produce the best all round performance. The grass seed produces usually select 3-4 grass varieties (or cultivars) for each of their products. These will differ to take account of the varying conditions and sports that use real grass as a playing surface. Occasionally the sporting venue will necessitate a special blended mixture of individually chosen grass seed varieties.
This is why the grass used in sport is special and is not the same as the grass in your back garden.
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