Introduction to America

In 1911, zoysia matrella grass was introduced to U.S. shores from Manila by a U.S. botanist named C.V. Piper. This is, no doubt, why zoysia grass is also called Manila grass, Manila templegrass, and yerba de Manila. Piper found the grass abundant near the sea in the Philippines. He thought it would work well in the Gulf and Atlantic coasts of Florida, due to some similarities with the climate and topography of the Philippines. In the 1950′s, the USDA released the first in a series of turfgrass cultivars and germplasm with improved disease resistance and stress tolerance. This included the Meyer and Belair zoysia grasses, and the first zoysia grass from seed.