Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Eastern gama grass

EASTERN GAMA GRASS

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Tripsacum dactyloides (L. ) L.

Mitchell County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 4-8 feet

Family: Poaceae - Grass Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August, September

Culms:

Erect or bent abruptly below, solid, glabrous, slightly flattened and purplish at bases.

Blades:

Flat, 12 to 30 inches long, .25 to 1.25 inch wide, glabrous, midrib prominent; margins rough; tips tapered to long points.

Sheaths:

Open, shorter than internodes, glabrous or sometimes hairy near ligules.

Ligules:

Rings of short hairs.

Inflorescences:

Spike-like branches, 1-4, 6 to 10 inches long.

Spikelets:

Unisexual; staminate spikelets paired, 1/4 to 1/2 inch long; pairs in 2 rows on 1 side of flattened rachis at terminal ends of branches; pistillate spikelets embedded in lower 1/4 of branches, solitary, pear-shaped, 1/4 to 1/2 inch long, hard, bead-like; awns absent.

Habitat:

Moist prairies, fertile bottomland, and stream banks.

Distribution:

Principally east 2/3 of Kansas.

Forage Value:

It is palatable and very nutritious for livestock. Cattle relish this grass and can eliminate it through overgrazing. Birds and small mammals consume the seeds.

Comments:

Tufted from thick rhizomes; monoecious (male and female flowers occur at different locations on the same plant). It grows in clumps 1 to 4 feet in diameter. Eastern gamagrass is related to corn (Zea mays L.).

Eastern gama grass inflorescence