I have long fought editors of my books and newspaper articles about the correct spelling of turfgrasses.

Here are the thoughts of Dr. Clint Waltz at UGA:

“Bermudagrass is one word and only capitalized at the beginning of a sentence, otherwise it would be lowercase.

“For example, “Zoysiagrass, bermudagrass, and seashore paspalum are warm-season turfgrass species that produce both rhizomes and stolons.”

“St. Augustine is capitalized regardless of where it is in the sentence. For example, “Centipedegrass and St. Augustinegrass are warm-season turfgrass species that only produce stolons.”

“The writers of the dictionary are not the “experts” within the discipline, so I don’t care what Merriam or Webster says regarding the “correct” spelling of turfgrass species – they are wrong.

“In my opinion, publications look uninformed and lose credibility when they fail to conform to the scientific convention – the science rules, if you want to regard us as “experts” then accept our convention.”