Index / Search / Tripsacum dactyloides

§1 Plant

Tripsacum dactyloides (L.) L.

vernacular eastern gamagrass — species · Poaceae


USDA
TRDA3
GBIF
2705536
Rank
species
eastern gamagrass (Tripsacum dactyloides)
Platephotograph · samlutfyCC BY source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Graminoid
Duration
Perennial
Group
Monocot
Family
Poaceae Barnhart
Genus
Tripsacum
§2a

Native status, by region

  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 654 counties across 28 states/territories
Legend Native · 654 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
Low
Shade
High
Moisture use
High
Fire
High
Salinity
None
Anaerobic
Medium
CaCO₃
None
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-23 °F minimum
Frost-free days
140 min.
Precipitation
16–60 in/yr
pH range
5.1–7.5
Root depth
20 in min.
Fertility need
High
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Bunch
Growth rate
Rapid
Lifespan
Long
Mature height
5 ft
Foliage texture
Coarse
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Dense
Porosity (winter)
Moderate
Flower colour
Yellow
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Early Summer
Seed abundance
Low
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
Slow
Stratify
Yes
Seeds / lb
7,200
Propagation
seed, sprigs
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
High
Graze palatability
High
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
High
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 654 counties across 28 states/territories.

Alabama view state ↗ 31 N
Arkansas view state ↗ 37 N
Delaware view state ↗ 1 N
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 N
Florida view state ↗ 40 N
Georgia view state ↗ 30 N
Illinois view state ↗ 31 N
Indiana view state ↗ 7 N
Iowa view state ↗ 11 N
Kansas view state ↗ 75 N
Kentucky view state ↗ 22 N
Louisiana view state ↗ 46 N
Maryland view state ↗ 1 N
Massachusetts view state ↗ 3 N
Michigan view state ↗ 2 N
Mississippi view state ↗ 36 N
Missouri view state ↗ 49 N
Nebraska view state ↗ 6 N
New Jersey view state ↗ 11 N
New York view state ↗ 11 N
North Carolina view state ↗ 58 N
Ohio view state ↗ 1 N
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 8 N
Rhode Island view state ↗ 1 N
South Carolina view state ↗ 25 N
Tennessee view state ↗ 31 N
Virginia view state ↗ 73 N
West Virginia view state ↗ 6 N

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/TRDA3 ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2705536 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T08:39:52Z