TURF I GLOSSARY
Acid soil
Soil whose reaction is below pH 7
Alkaline soil
Soil whose reaction is above pH 7
Annual, summer
Plant that completes its life cycle from seed in one growing season
Annual, winter
Plant that initiates growth in the fall, lives over winter and dies after
producing seed the following season.
Auricle
Clawlike appendages occurring in pairs at the base of the leaf blade
or at the apex of the leaf sheath.
Ball mark
A depress and/or tear in the surface of a turf, usually a putting green,
made by the impact of a ball.
Blade
The flattened portion of the leaf located above the sheath.
Bunch-type growth
Plant development by intravaginal tillering at or near the soil surface
without production of rhizomes or stolons.
Clippings
Leaves and, in some cases, stems cut off by mowing.
Collar
Light-colored band at the junction of the blade and sheath on the abaxial
side of the leaf
Cool season Turfgrass Turfgrass species adapted to favorable growth during cool portions
(60°F to 75°F) of the growing season.
Coring
A method of turf cultivation by which soil cores are removed using
hollow tines or spoons.
Crown
A highly compressed stem located at the base of a vegetative aerial
shoot.
Cultivar
An assemblage of cultivated plants distinguished by any characters that
when reproduced sexually or asexually retain their distinguishing
features.
Cup cutter
A hollow cylinder with a sharpened lower edge used to cut the hole or
cup in a green.
Cutting height
On a mower, the distance between the plane of travel and the parallel
plane of cut.
Dethatch
To remove an excessive thatch accumulation usually by a mechanical
practice such as vertical mowing.
Divot
A small opening in the turf from which the sod has been removed as a
result of being struck with a golf club.
Evapotranspiration
Total loss of moisture through the processes of evaporation and
transpiration.
Fertigation
The application of fertilizer through an irrigation.
Footprinting, frost
Discolored foot-shaped areas of dead leaf tissue created by
walking on live frosted Turfgrass leaves.
Ligule
Membranous or hairy appendage an adaxial side of a grass
leaf at the junction of the sheaf and blade.
Mowing frequency
The number of times a Turfgrass is mowed per week, month,or
growing season.
Mowing height
The distance above the ground surface at which the Turfgrass is cut
during mowing.
Mowing pattern
The patterns of back and forth travel while mowing turf.
Mulch
Any nonliving material that forms a covering on the soil surface.
Nursegrass
Grasses not expected to persist in a turf; they are used as a
temporary cover.
Overseed
To seed onto an existing turf to provide green active grass growth during
dormancy of the original turf.
Phloem
The principal food-conducting element of vascular plants.
Plug
To propagate Turfgrasses vegetative by means of plugs or small
pieces of sod.
Renovation, turf
Turf improvement involving replanting into existing and/or dead
vegetation.
Rhizome
An underground elongated stem (or shoot) with scale leaves and
adventitious roots arising from the nodes.
Rotary Mower
A mower that cuts turf by high speed impact of a blade rotating in a
cutting plane parallel and incident to the turf surface.
Scalp
To remove an excessive quantity of functioning green leaves at any
one mowing; results in a stubbly brown appearance.
Sheath
The tubular basal portion of the leaf that encloses the stem.
Shoot density
The relative number of shoots per unit area.
Sod
Plugs, squares, or strips of Turfgrass with the adhering soil, can
be used in vegetative planting.