Distribution and Origin

Zoysia weeds can be a problem in many places, and they are considered an invasive weed species. This is because the grass can spread via its rhizomes, which are underground stems that allow it to grow horizontally under your yard and spread into neighboring yards.

People also dislike Zoysia because it has a very shallow root system, meaning it requires copious amounts of water to stay green and healthy looking. Its shallow roots can result in the grass not being able to survive droughts, whereas other grasses with deeper root systems can deal better with hot conditions and little water.

It is thought that Zoysia may have originated in Southeast Asia as two specimens were found there and nowhere else.

The plant was first introduced to Europe in the 1860s.

In the mid-1800s, Z. japonica was brought to Europe from Japan by Baron von Siebold, a German physician who served as the Royal Dutch East Indies Company’s doctor in Nagasaki. As an amateur botanist, he introduced hundreds of species of trees and plants to Europe. He sent some zoysia specimens to a professor at the University of Munich and the Royal Botanical Gardens in London. The name “Zoysia” was given by T. Macoun, curator at Ottawa Experimental Farm (now Central Experimental Farm) in Ottawa, Ontario Canada.

It was introduced to the US around 1900 by Captain Richard J. Marion of the United States Army Medical Corps.

As an introduction to the United States, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) was established in 1862. Captain Richard J. Marion of the United States Army Medical Corps had a collection of seeds from his travels that could be useful to American agriculture; he sent seed samples to USDA’s Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction in Maryland for testing.

The USDA produced more seed for distribution and distributed this seed to nine different locations for testing.

He sent some seed back from Japan to the United States Department of Agriculture experiment station in Maryland.

Experimentation with zoysia grass was first introduced to the U.S. by Captain Richard J. Marion of the U.S. Army Quartermaster’s Department, who sent some seed back from Japan to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) experiment station in Maryland, USA in 1900. The USDA produced a small amount of seed from it that was distributed to agricultural experiment stations at nine locations around the country for testing

The USDA produced a small amount of seed that was distributed around the country

The USDA produced a small amount of seed from it that was distributed to agricultural experiment stations at nine locations around the country for testing. If you were near any of these stations, you could have ordered some seeds from them.

If you are lucky enough to find zoysia grass in your yard or if it is a neighbor’s lawn and spreads into your yard, do not dig out or destroy the plant. Zoysia grass will grow slowly but surely in most soils and can withstand rough treatment like trampling, mowing, poor soil and sunning.

By 1930, zoysia had been successfully adapted for turf use at five sites in the United States

Zoysia grass is native to Asia, where it was first noticed by westerners in the late 1600s. In 1751, Carl Thunberg is believed to have been the first westerner to scientifically document zoysia grasses (Thunberg 1784). In 1878, the British botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker published a description of Zoysia tenuifolia and Zoysia matrella from Thailand based on specimens collected by Dr. Henry Nicholas Ridley (Hooker 1878).

Dr. Henry Nicholas Ridley brought samples of zoysia grasses from Thailand (then Siam) near the end of his appointment with the Straits Settlements in 1897. The material was then sent to Kew Royal Botanic Gardens for further evaluation (Gregory 2010). At this time little information was available regarding their potential use. It would not be until 1904 that U.S. Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson asked Sir George King, Director of Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, if he could send any plants or seeds for trials at USDA’s Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction in Washington D.C. Sir King sent several species including Manchurian zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica) and Korean lawngrass (Zoysia sinica), which were planted out at both Beltsville, MD and Miami FL in 1905-1906 (Cope 2006; USNPGSA 2006). However, these introductions were considered failures as seed germination rates were poor and seedlings proved difficult to establish under field conditions without supplemental irrigation1.

Despite this early setback, interest continued in obtaining additional germplasm from Southeast Asia with hopes that it might prove better adapted to North American conditions than initial introductions had been thus far.

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