GRASSES IN YOUR POCKET--tips for identifying the grasses around you

Having trouble identifying grasses in and around Iowa? The Bur Oak Guide Grasses in Your Pocket, by Anna B. Gardner, Michael Hurst, Deborah Lewis and Lynn G. Clark, will help you do just that.

 Beadgrass, thin paspalum
Paspalum setaceum
Native. Jul-Sep. Infrequent to more frequent south. Sand prairies. 25-110 cm, 1-4 ft high. Spikelets all on one side of branches, round in outline, one side flat, one side convex.

IA, IL, IN (MI), (MN), OH, WI

Eastern gamagrass

Tripsacum dactyloides

Native. Jun-Oct. Rare. Wetter areas, limestone outcrops. 100-200 cm, 3-7 ft high. Rhizomes short, knotty; basal part of flowering head branches beadlike.

IA, IL, (IN), (MI), (OH)