ILLINOIS PLANT INFORMATION NETWORK
 
 ILPIN INFORMATION ON    Tripsacum dactyloides
 
 
 CLASS:    MONOCOTYLEDENAE
 ORDER:    CYPERALES
 FAMILY:   POACEAE
 SCIENTIFIC NAME:  Tripsacum dactyloides
 AUTHORITY:  (L.) L.
 
 COMMON NAMES:
    GAMA GRASS
 
 SYNONOMY:   None
 
 PLANTS CODE: TRDA3
 
 NATURAL COMMUNITIES:
     FOREST
       UPLAND FOREST
       FLOODPLAIN FOREST
       FLATWOODS
       THICKETS
     PRAIRIE
     SAVANNA
     PRIMARY
       GLADE
         LIMESTONE
     CULTURAL
       AGRICULTURAL FIELD
       SUCCESSIONAL FIELD
       DEVELOPED LAND
       RESTORATION
 
 
 SAF FOREST COVER TYPE:
     CENTRAL
        Upland oak
           White/Black/Northern Red-  Oak
 
 
 NATURAL DIVISION:
     Coastal Plain
        Cretaceous Hills
 
 COUNTIES:
   ADAMS           CALHOUN         CHAMPAIGN       CHRISTIAN       CLINTON
   CRAWFORD        EFFINGHAM       FAYETTE         FRANKLIN        FULTON
   HANCOCK         JACKSON         JASPER          JEFFERSON       JERSEY
   LAWRENCE        MACOUPIN        MADISON         MARION          MASSAC
   MENARD          PERRY           POPE            RANDOLPH        RICHLAND
   ST. CLAIR       SCOTT           TAZEWELL        UNION           WABASH
   WILLIAMSON
 
 GROWTH FORM:  Monocot
 
 TAXONOMY COMMENTS:
     This is the only species in Illinois.
 
 TAXONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS:
    ROOTS:  Adventitious   (rhizomes)
    LEAF ARRANGEMENT:   Alternate
    LEAF TYPE:   Simple
    LEAF MARGIN:   Entire
    LEAF VENATION:  Parallel
    LEAF SHAPE:     Linear
    INFLORESCENCE:   Panicle  Spike
    FLOWER MEROUS:  3
    FLOWER STRUCTURE:   Complete
    FLOWER PLACEMENT:  Hypogynous
    FRUIT:   Grain
 
 DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTIC COMMENTS:
     Pistillate spikelets are solitary, in hollowed parts on opposite
     sides of the thickened hard joints of the lower part of the rachis
     - this pistillate portion breaks at maturity into 1-seeded joints.
 
 GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION:
     ORIGIN:   Native
 
 GEOGRAPHIC COMMENTS:
     Species is occasional in the southern 2/3 of Illinois; absent
     elsewhere.
 
 POPULATION DYNAMICS:
     STATE STATUS: Not listed
     FEDERAL STATUS: Not listed
     COMMONNESS:  Occasional
     ENDEMIC:   NOT-ENDEMIC
 POPULATION STATUS COMMENTS:
     "At times hundreds of plants... may be present in natural
     prairies... in large clumps, which form conspicuous patches
     of olive-green leaves and culms."
 
 
 BIOLOGIC:
     HABIT:   Grasslike
     LIFE CYCLE:   Perennial
     REPRODUCTION:   Sexual   Vegetative
     FLOWERING PERIOD:
         MONTH BEGINNING-      5         MONTH END-      9
     TROPHIC STATUS:  Autotrophic
     C02 FIXATION:  C4
     SEX:      Unisexual   -monoecious
 
 BIOLOGIC COMMENTS:
     Spikelets are unisexual, female below, male above.
 
 ECODISTRIBUTION COMMENTS:
     Species is distributed on low ground, open limestone slopes,
     borders of woods, waste, cultivated ground, along roads and
     railroads, and swales.
 
 ENVIRONMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS:   No data entered
 
 FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS:    No data entered
 HUMAN RELATIONSHIP DATA:
     ALLERGENIC:  Yes
 
 
 HUMAN FACTOR COMMENTS:
     Occasional allergies developed, but large pollen usually doesn't
     travel far.
 
 WILDLIFE AND LIVESTOCK INFORMATION:   No data entered
 
 REVEGETATION PLANTINGS:    No data entered
 
 
 REFERENCES:
Steyermark, J. A.  1963.  Flora of Missouri.  Iowa State University Press, Ames.
     1725 pp.
Fernald, M. L.  1950.  Gray's manual of botany.  8th ed.  American Book Co.,
     New York.  1632 pp.
Mohlenbrock, R. H.  1967-continuing.  The illustrated flora of Illinois.
     Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale.
Wodehouse, R. P.  1971.  Hayfever plants.  Hafner Publishing Company, New
     York.  280 pp.
 
 END OF DATA FOR SPECIES  Tripsacum dactyloides
 
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 ILPIN was developed by Louis Iverson*, with data compiled by David Ketzner and Jeanne Karnes
 Illinois Natural History Survey, 607 E. Peabody Dr., Champaign, IL 61820
     *currently employed by USDA Forest Service, 359 Main Rd., Delaware, OH 43015