- BACK to Product Showcase -
EASTERN GAMMA GRASS
Tripsacum dactyloides
Alternate Names
Tripsacum dactyloides (L.) L. var. occidentale Cutler & Anders., Coix dactyloides L., bullgrass, capim gigante, eastern mock gama, fakahatchee grass, Gamagras, herbe grama, maicillo oriental, pasto Guate-mala, wild corn, zacate maicero
Description
General: Grass Family (Poaceae), tribe Andropogoneae, and subtribe Tripsacinae. It shares the same subtribe as corn (Zea mays). Eastern gamagrass is a native, perennial, bunchgrass and is a distant relative of corn. It is a long-lived (to 50 years), warm-season species native to most of the eastern half of the United States. It ranges in height from 4 to 8 feet. The leaf blades are flat, long (12 to 30 inches) and wide (0.4 to 1.2 inches), with a well-defined midrib. It reproduces vegetatively from thick, knotty rhizome like structures called proaxes. The inflorescences have 1 to 3 racemes. The spikes are 6 to 10 inches long. Similar to corn, eastern gamagrass has separate male and female flowers (monoecious). But unlike corn, each gamagrass spike contains both male and female flowers. Male flowers occupy the top ¾ of the spike and female flowers the bottom ¼.
