Tripsacum dactyloides
| Tripsacum dactyloides | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| (unranked): | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Subfamily: | Panicoideae |
| Tribe: | Andropogoneae |
| Genus: | Tripsacum |
| Species: | T. dactyloides |
| Binomial name | |
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Tripsacum dactyloides (L.) L. 1759 |
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| Synonyms | |
Tripsacum dactyloides, commonly called eastern gamagrass, is a warm-season, sod-forming bunch grass native to the eastern United States. Gamagrass is a distant relative of the corn species (Zea mays) and, like corn, the male part of the plant is located in the upper section of the female part. The joints of the seed-bearing part of the plant break when the plant is developed and each seed-bearing part contains one seed.
Usually gamagrass grows to a height of 2–3 feet (0.61–0.91 m), but it can be as high as 8–10 ft (2.4–3.0 m). The seed-producing season of the grass is from June to September. The seeds contain from one to numerous thorns and the size of the seed head can range from 6 to 10 inches. The distinct midrib leaves of gamagrass can grow up to a height of 12–24 inches (300–610 mm) and a width of 0.375–0.75 in (9.5–19.1 mm).
Eastern gamagrass has several short, fibrous, thick rhizomes. The deep and hollow roots of the plant branch out from lower nodes. Since the grass has short internodes, all the leaves grow out from the plant's base. Each clump's diameter can increase up to 4 ft (1.2 m).
The stems and leaves have a purplish color and are glabrous. The glabrous leaf-blade is around 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) long, 9–35 millimetres (0.35–1.38 in) wide and has hairs at the base. The inflorescenceof the terminal axillary bud is 10–30 centimetres (3.9–11.8 in) long. The type of inflorescence is usually a single raceme or a panicle with a combination of two to three unisexual single racemes. The flowers of eastern gamagrass, which blooms from late March to early October, consist of red spikes made up of female and male spikelets. Usually spikelets of grass assist reproduction by holding the grain and fruit. When the mature female spikelets are destroyed they separate like pop-beads. Eastern gamagrass can survive droughts and floods for a long time because of its rigid and thick rhizomatous roots which firmly holding the plant upright.
Tripsacum dactyloides has different female and male flowers and is a monoecious plant. The seeds mature disproportionally and production is commonly slow.Tripsacum dactyloides is one of the species in the Poaceae family, one of the Andropogoneae tribe, and one of the sub-tribes of Tripsacinae. As the plant is a distant relative of corn, it shares common subtribes with the Zea mays corn species.
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