# eastern gamagrass

*Tripsacum dactyloides*

Eastern gamagrass is a close wild relative of domesticated corn and shares a common ancestor with the genus Zea.

- **Taxonomy:** Plantae › Tracheophyta › Liliopsida › Poales › Poaceae › Tripsacum
- **IUCN Red List status:** Least Concern
- **Population trend:** decreasing
- **Biome:** grassland
- **Habitat:** Tallgrass prairies, moist meadows, riverbanks, swales, ditches, and open savannas
- **Diet:** Autotroph (photosynthesis via C4 pathway)
- **Range:** Eastern United States, Central United States, Mexico, Central America, South America
- **Size:** 1.5–3 m tall, forming clumps up to 1.2 m wide
- **Lifespan:** 20–50 yr
- **Active:** diurnal
- **Threats:** Overgrazing by livestock, agricultural conversion of native prairies, and habitat fragmentation
- **Safe to approach?:** Harmless to humans. It has no venom, thorns, or irritants, though dried leaf margins can cause minor paper-like cuts if pulled against skin. No special distance or precautions are needed.

## About

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 above 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.

## Sources

- Plate: https://gaia-dex.com/species/3cf67423-8ea1-4541-b6e5-fd8ad6c7a164
- iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/126563
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripsacum dactyloides
- Conservation status: IUCN Red List category, as recorded by Gaia-Dex
- Photo: https://inaturalist-open-data.s3.amazonaws.com/photos/21709424/medium.jpg (samlutfy, CC-BY, via iNaturalist)

Habitat, diet, size and similar notes are AI-written summaries; check them against the linked sources before relying on them.