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PURPLETOP
Tridens flavus (L.) Hitchc.
Alternate Names
greasegrass
Uses
Purpletop is a perennial, warm season grass that is consumed by all grazing livestock. It is well adapted to shallow, droughty, infertile soil and provides forage in the sum-mer and on sites where cool season forages do not produce well. It can be planted alone or in mixes with other warm season grasses
Description
Tridens flavus (L.) Hitchc., purpletop, is a bunchgrass with erect tufted culms. It is 35 to 75 inches tall. Leaf blades are flat, often less than 1/2 inch wide and 10 to 27 inches long, lax, smooth, and glossy green. The leaf sheath is flattened near the base, keeled (has a central rib), and overlapping. The ligule (projection up from inside leaf sheath where sheath meets blade) is a ring of short hairs. The seedhead is an open cluster, 8 to 14 inches long, spreading, pyramid shaped, usually purple, sometimes nearly black. The seedheads droop and are covered with an oily or grease-like substance. There are 465,000 seeds per pound.
