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Tripsacum dactyloides Perennial, warm, native, fair grazing for wildlife, good grazing for livestock. 3-6' tall, robust stems which are flattened at the purplish base and growing from stout, scaly rhizomes (resembling white grubs). The blades are 1/3-1" wide with rough and sharp margins. The inflorescence with 1-3 spikes sometimes a foot long has male spikelets above and female spikelets below. The male spikelets are in pairs fitting into the hollows of the seed stem. The female spikelets are oval and hard, breaking into bony joints. This grass is closely kin to corn but it has both male and female parts in the same spike. Grows in fertile bottomland, swamps and along stream banks. A good grass to grow in pure stands and manage as a pasture grass. Areas 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10. |
Tridens flavus, var. flavus Perennial, warm, native, fair grazing for wildlife and livestock. 3-5' tall, erect stem but finally drooping when mature. The sheaths are flattened and overlapping at the base. The panicle is open and spreading and pyramid shaped. The branchlets of the panicle give off a sticky juice which causes dirt to cling to it. Spikelets are 5-7 flowered, green to pale purple when ripe. At a glance, purpletop resembles johnsongrass in winter. Prefers shady, woody and sandy soil. Areas 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8. |
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Created: August 15, 1996
Updated: May 23, 1997