LONGSPIKE TRIDENS
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Tridens strictus   (Nutt. ) Nash
Cherokee County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 20-60 inches
Family: Poaceae -Grass family
Flowering Period:   July, August, September
Culms: Stiffly erect, stout, occasionally branched, glabrous, usually in small tufts.
Blades: Erect or ascending, 2 to 24 inches long, 1/8 to 1/3 inch wide, firm, flat or margins loosely rolled toward upper side, usually glabrous except for prominent hairs near ligule; tip long-tapering to narrow point; midrib whitish, conspicuous on upper surface near base.
Sheaths: Longer or shorter than internodes, glabrous except for a few hairs on either side of the collar.
Ligules: Fringe of hairs less than 1/25 inch long.
Inflorescences: Panicle, elongate, dense, 4 to 12 inches long, 2/5 to 4/5 inch wide, spikelike, more or less interrupted below, narrowed above, pale or purplish; branches erect or flattened against the rachis, the lower .8 to 2.5 inches long, naked below, progressively shorter above.
Spikelets: Spikelets, short-stalked, 5-11-flowered, oblong, 1/6 to 1/4 inch long, 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide, pale or purplish, florets closely overlapping; glumes nearly equal, 1/6 to 1/4 inch long, exceeding the lowest floret to as long as the spikelet, often twice as long as the adjacent lemmas, 1-nerved, glabrous; tip spreading, long-pointed or irregularly toothed; lemmas oblong, 1/12 to 1/8 inch long, rounded, toothed, membranous, 3-nerved; nerves on lower 1/2 to 2/3 with soft hairs; keel extending beyond tip as minute awn.
Habitat: Open woods, prairies, pastures, old fields, roadsides; usually in low, moist areas.
Distribution: Southeast eighth of Kansas.
Origin: Native
Comments: Forms tufts.

Longspike tridens inflorescence
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Cherokee County, Kansas
Longspike tridens
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Cherokee County, Kansas
Longspike tridens spikelets
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Cherokee County, Kansas
Longspike tridens
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Cherokee County, Kansas
Longspike tridens
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Cherokee County, Kansas