Microscopic Photos of Buffalo Grass Part 2

Stunning Microscopic Photos of Buffalo Grass

Amazing Photos of Buffalo Grass

Continuing on from our world first release of Microscopic Photos of Buffalo Grass, The Lawn Guide is proud to release Part 2 of these stunning photos. These amazing photos include all new pictures of Matilda, Sir Walter and Old Sydney Buffalo grasses.

Matilda Near Leaf Tip

Sir Walter Near Leaf Tip

Old Sydney Near Leaf Tip

Matilda Down The Leaf

Sir Walter Down The Leaf

Old Sydney Down The Leaf

Professional microscopic photos taken by Peter Kinchington
Special thanks to Ozbreed Turf - suppliers of quality Soft Leaf Buffalo grasses including Palmetto and Sapphire.

See Part 1 of our microscopic photos of Buffalo Grass here - varieties include Palmetto and Sapphire.

Softness and Scratchiness of Buffalo Grass Types

On seeing that even the Soft Leaf Buffalo grasses have what appear to be the same barbs at the leaf tip as the Old Sydney Buffalo, just how is it that Soft Buffalo can still be soft?

The answers lay in 3 key areas…

Firstly, the barbs which are seen at the leaf tips are very different between the Soft and Scratchy Buffalo grasses. The barbs on Soft Buffalo are aligned in a linear (straight) alignment which makes them very mild on the skin, while the barbs on Old Sydney have their barbs aligned in a jagged / sawtooth pattern which makes them highly irritating to the skin.

Further down the leaf, the barbs on the Soft Leaf Buffalo grass types disappear, while the spiky barbs on scratchy Old Sydney Buffalo remain.

Finally, when Buffalo is regularly mowed, even these very soft and mild linear barbs are totally removed from the leaf tip when the grass is cut. After mowing, true soft Buffalo grasses will have no barbs left on the leaf. However, those same highly irritating saw-tooth barbs on Old Sydney still remain - even after mowing, because the barbs continue to grow down the length of the leaf blade.

Note: Old Sydney buffalo grass is the name used to describe the old style scratchy and irritating Original Buffalo grasses which were widely used throughout Australia prior to the introduction of new quality soft leaf varieties such as Palmetto.

True Soft Leaf Buffalo Grass

In summary, these ground breaking new microscopic photos prove the real leaf softness of many of the new Soft Leaf Buffalo grasses, as well as finally revealing why the Original Sydney Buffalo was so harsh and irritating on the skin.

So here are our results from these amazing microscopic photos…

- Proven to be true soft leaf Buffalo grass types:
Palmetto - Sapphire - Sir Walter - Matilda

- Proven to be scratchy and irritating Buffalo grass types:
Original Sydney Buffalo

This is Part 2 of two articles...
See Part 1 of our microscopic photos of Buffalo Grass here - varieties include Palmetto and Sapphire.