Morphological variation and types of Cynodon dactylon

The morphological variation between 444 populations of Cynodon dactylon was analyzed, and clustering was carried out based on 15 morphological characteristics. The results showed that: 1) Abundant morphological variation existed between populations of C.dactylon. The largest variation was found in characteristics including height (including turf and reproductive stem height), length (including leaf and internode length) and shoot morphology (referring to short stem form and morphological index); followed by variation in characteristics including uniformity, density, and leaf color. The least variation was found in characteristics including width (referring to leaf width and internode diameter) and inflorescence character (referring to inflorescence and spikelet length, and inflorescence branch number). 2) With latitude increasing, C.dactylon became higher and more erect with longer leaves and internodes. The reproductive stem height also became much higher with longer inflorescences and spikelets, but the inflorescence branch number reduced. The populations also produced darker green leaves and denser turf. Populations from east China compared with those of the west generally had longer internodes and spikelets, but lower reproductive stem height. 3) Based on 15 morphological characteristics, populations were clustered into five morphological types with turf quality ranked as follows: coarse-high type erect and slanting-high types slanting-dwarf type dwarf type. It was suggested that the coarse-high type be used for forage; that the erect, slanting-high, and slanting-dwarf types could be used for soil protection; and that the dwarf type could be used for places including golf courses, public green land, and sports fields.