Nutsedge by any other name is still a sedge

摘要

You know you can call a weed any name you wish. As long as the management strategy controls the weed, there is no problem. Sometimes an improper common name, however, can lead to a control failure. Consider this -- the Cyperaceae, the sedge family, has about 4,000 species around the world (Correll and Johnston, 1979). Numerous members of this family are found in turfgrass, and many of these species look like grass. After repeated attempts to control these grass "look-alikes," however, with the postemergent turfgrass graminicides such as sethoxydim (Vantage), fenoxaprop (Acclaim Extra) and fenoxaprop (Fusilade II), some of us may realize that maybe this isn't grass after all. Sedges are not grasses and respond differently to most herbicides. In general, sedges are yellow-green to dark-green, with triangular stems and three-ranked leaves, unlike the two-ranked leaves of the grass family (Table 1). The leaf sheath of sedges is closed and encircles the stem.