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bpgreen

terminology question tiller/rhizome

bpgreen
15 years ago

I read one of your response in which you referred to a grass spreading by tillering, but the description you gave sounded more like rhizomatous spreading.

My understand used to be that tillers are roots that grow up right next to the existing grass plant, resulting in spreading that is seen in grasses like turf type tall fescue, sheep fescue, perennial rye, blue grama, etc.

I thought that the specialized roots that shoot out from the plant and result in rapid spreading are called rhizomes, exhibited by grasses like kentucky bluegrass, creeping red fescue, streambank and western wheatgrass, so that would not be considered tillering.

I have recently read that rhizomes are a specialized form of tillers, so that rhizomatous spreading could be considered tillering.

Is rhizomatous spreading a form of tillering? Is it accurate to refer to that spreading as tillering even if it is technically correct, considering the fact that there's a different term for it and tillering can imply the slow outward growth of a bunchgrass?

PS I know there's also stoloniferous spreading, but that's above ground, so I think that's another topic.

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