Annual bluegrass (Poa annua L.) seeds, which were collected from an orchard in the experimental farm of Utsunomiya University, were sown in a pot filled with upland soil and then were grown in a grasshouse. In the following season, flowering characteristics of the weed were measured in terms of 4 following parameters, regarding a spikelet attached on the top of inflorescence, as 1 inflorescence per 1 plant. The results are summarized as below. (1) The number of female and hermaphrodite floret consisting of spikelet. Although most of the spikelet consisted of 1 female floret and 2 and/or 3 hermaphrodite florets, spikelet only consisting of hermaphrodite florets or spikelet having two female florets was observed. (2) The order of flowering of lemma in spikelet. In spikelet having female floret, female floret flowered first followed by the 1st. hermaphrodite florets. However, in spikelet having only hermaphrodite florets, regular flowering order was not found. (3) The time for flowering or closing of lemma in floret. Most of the female and hermaphrodite florets flowered at midnight, but some florets flowered from early morning to afternoon daytime in female florets. In addition, both female and hermaphrodite florets closed between early in the morning and in the afternoon. (4) The time from flowering to closing of lemma in floret. The flowering time of female was about 44 hours; it is longer than that of hermaphrodite florets. Moreover, in female floret, time from flowering to stigmatic development or from stigmatic development to closing took 21 hours or 23 hours, respectively, and in hermaphrodite floret, time from flowering of lemma to anther protruding or from anther protruding to closing lemma took less than 1 hour or 7 hours, respectively.

The aim of this study was to examine mitigating effect of heat environment by wall greening panels. An enforcement place of a experiment was the wall of a penthouse on the roof floor of a university building located in Aoba Ward, city of Yokohama. Chamaeciyparis pisfera ‘Filifera Aurea’ was planted onto about half the area of the wall (height 3,500 mm×width 3,600 mm). Then thermal sensors were installed in a mesh pattern in order to measure surface temperatures of the planted (length 4 points×side 2 points) and non-planted surfaces (length 4 points×side 1 point) and temperature distribution 10-cm in front of those surfaces of the planted (length 4 points×side 3 points) and non-planted (length 4 points×side 3 points). Transition of 24-hours of temperature distribution measured on Sep. 7, 2009. The results showed that, the surface of the wall greening panel has decreased at 15ºC though the surface of concrete wall recorded 45ºC in daytime. And, a concrete wall in the back of the greening panel has decreased similarly at 15ºC, too. And the cooling effect of 1∼2ºC was admitted the wall greening panels compared with concrete wall the neighborhood temperature.

Foliar epidermal observation of turfgrass by fluorescence microscopy was utilized to study foliar fertilization and turfgrass vitality. Epidermal autofluorescence of eight cultivars of creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera) and Japanese lawngrass (Zoysia matrella) were observed by fluorescence microscopy. Many stomata were clearly recognized on adaxial and abaxial sides, suggesting that foliar fertilizers are effectively absorbed through these openings and through cuticular aqueous pores of the stomatal guard cells. In addition, cell walls were convex in almost all cultivars and small spines existed in places on the foliar epidermis. These autofluorescence observations could possibly become an index of turfgrass vitality. Autofluorescence observation of turfgrass foliage was considered a simple and convenient method for monitoring foliar uptake.

We investigated that the effect of new iron-supplement fertilizer TetsuRiki (Aichi Steel’s company) containing FeO as a main component on the growth and post-dormancy growth of Japanese lawn grass (Zoysia japonica Steud.) under the field conditions. Plants were supplied by ion-supplement application under three levels control (0 kg/m²), low (0.17 kg/m²), high (0.33 kg/m²). Plant height and dry matter weight of shoot were remarkably improved in parallel with the improvement of leaf SPAD value. And the number of budding was increased with adversely effecting post-dormancy recovery in spring. Iron and manganese concentrations in aboveground plant parts were higher in Fe application plots than control plots. However, the number of sprout in Fe application plots was no significant difference between control plots.