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Tripsacum dactyloides

Common name:	Sesame Grass	Family:	Gramineae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:	1, 43, 274
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Eastern N. America - Massachusetts to Michigan and Nebraska, south to Florida, Oklahoma and Texas.
Habitat:	Swales, moist fields, woodland edges and shores[43].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Coix dactyloides[B,P] T. dactyloides var. occidentale[B,P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Eastern Gama Grass [H], Eastern Gramagrass [P], Eastern Mock Grama [B],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	dactyloides = finger like;
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Cyperales. Renamed to Poaceae -- Grass family
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: USA Invasive.

Physical Characteristics

Perennial growing to 2.5m by 1m . It is hardy to zone 7 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from August to September. The flowers are monoecious (individual flowers are either male or female, but both sexes can be found on the same plant) and are pollinated by Wind. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Cultivated Beds, Sunny Edge.

Edible Uses

Seed.

Seed - cooked or ground into a flour[2, 183]. The popped seed is almost indistinguishable from strawberry popcorn[183]. Seeds contain about 27% protein, this is about 3 times the protein found in corn and twice that of wheat. It is also about twice as high in the amino acid methionine as corn[183].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

None known

Cultivation details

A very easily grown plant, it succeeds in ordinary garden soil[1].
A fairly hardy plant, it withstands severe frost in S. England[1] and seems to be perfectly hardy in Cambridge Botanical gardens[K].
This species is currently (1992) under development as a potential perennial grain crop[183]. The seed has a very high protein content and this can be sacrificed to some extent in order to try and improve overall yields (these are quite low at present)[183].
Bi-generic hybrids with Zea spp are known to occur[162].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a greenhouse and only just cover the seed. Germination should take place within 2 weeks. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out into their permanent positions in the summer.
Division in spring. Larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found that it is best to pot up smaller divisions and grow them on in light shade in a greenhouse or cold frame until they are growing away well. Plant them out in the summer or the following spring.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[FAO] Data (Description, Habitat, Location and Use) from the FAO's Grassland Index.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[43] Fernald. M. L. Gray's Manual of Botany. American Book Co. 1950
A bit dated but good and concise flora of the eastern part of N. America.

[162] Grounds. R. Ornamental Grasses. Christopher Helm 1989 ISBN 0-7470-1219-9
Cultivation details of many of the grasses and bamboos. Well illustrated.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

Readers Comments

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Bibliography

Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
Website: www.pfaf.org Phone: 0845 458 4719/_44(0) 1208 872963

This page (UK) http://www.comp.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Tripsacum+dactyloides
This page (US) http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Tripsacum+dactyloides

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