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Microanatomical Differences of Warm-Season Grasses Revealed by Light and Electron Microscopy¹

The warm-season grasses, ‘Coastal’ and ‘Coastcross-1’ bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.) and ‘Pensacola’ bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum var. saurae Parodi), and the cool-season species ‘Kentucky 31’ tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) were investigated for differences in lignification sites and microanatomy. Leaf samples were examined by light, transmission electron, and scanning electron microscopy. In all the grasses studied, lignin was apparent in the tissue separating xylem and phloem in all first order vascular bundles. The bermudagrasses possessed a rigid, lignified inner bundle sheath surrounding the ground tissue of first order vascular bundles; bahia possessed only a lignified, partial inner sheath in this region. The second order bundles had a single, nonlignified sheath in all warm-season grasses examined. Tall fescue appeared to have double-sheathed vascular bundles with the outer sheath composed of thin-walled cells. The inner sheath in the first-order bundles of tall fescue contained slight amounts of lignin in cells adjacent to phloem tissue. Reported differences in microanatomy could be factors responsible for digestibility variances of grasses.

Key Words: Bermudagrass • Bahiagrass • Tall fescue • Scanning electron microscopy • Histochemistry • Lignin

² Microbiologist and Research Chemist, Forage and Feed Laboratory, Richard B. Russell, Agricultural Research Center, USDA, Athens, Georgia.

Received for publication July 17, 1972.