Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

HAIRY TRIDENS

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Erioneuron pilosum (Buckl. ) Nash

[=Tridens pilosus (Buckl. ) Hitchc.]

Morton County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 4-12 inches

Family: Poaceae - Grass Family

Flowering Period: May, June, July

Also Called:

Hairy woollygrass.

Culms:

Erect to ascending, slender, solid, unbranched, compressed, glabrous to rough or minutely hairy; usually with 1 node above basally clustered leaves.

Blades:

Occur principally near base; folded to flat, erect, thick, linear, .8 to 3.2 inches long, less than 1/12 inch wide, soft-hairy; margins conspicuously thick, whitish; midrib thickened, whitish below; tips abruptly pointed to blunt.

Sheaths:

Shorter than internodes, keeled, often soft-hairy at collar; margins finely fringed.

Ligules:

Fringe of very short hairs.

Inflorescences:

Panicle, short, contracted, .2 to 1.6 inches long, .6 to .8 inch broad, pale to purplish; branches few, short, 3-4 spikelets per branch.

Spikelets:

Crowded, 6-14-flowered, 2/5 to 3/5 inch long, 1/8 to 1/3 inch wide, compressed; glumes narrow, boat-shaped, glabrous, tapering to points, 1-nerved, nerve sometimes extending as short awn; lemmas pointed to slightly notched, densely silky-hairy with long white hairs near base and on margins and nerves, midrib extending as short awn

Habitat:

Pastures, prairies, disturbed sites, rocky hills, and roadsides; dry gravelly, sandy or rocky soil.

Distribution:

West 1/2 of Kansas.

Forage Value:

Poor forage for livestock and wildlife.

Comments:

The tufts tend to pull up easily.

Hairy tridens spikelets