Tridens pilosus (Buckl.). Hairy Tridens Habit: Densely tufted, low perennial. Culms: 10-30 cm. tall, tufted, erect-spreading, slender, not branched. The tufts easily pulled up. Blades: Thick, 2-8 cm. long, 1-1.5 mm. wide, erect, flat or folded (culm leaves shorter), abruptly pointed, more or less pilose, with thickened white margins, papillose-ciliate at the base, midnerve white. Sheaths: Shorter than internodes, with tufts of hairs at the summit, the basal leaves with short hairs. Inflorescence: Panicles long exserted, narrow, small, dense, subcapitate, with few very short branches with 3-4 spikelets to a branch, these pale or purplish. Spikelets: 3-10, crowded, 1-1.5 cm. long, compressed, 6-12-flowered, rachilla disarticulating above the glumes and between the florets. Glumes: Narrow, acuminate, awn-pointed, 1-nerved, boat-shaped, smooth except the scabrous keel, the first about 4.5 mm. long and the second 5.5 mm. long. Lemmas: About 6 mm. long, broad, 3-nerved, pubescent on the nerves below with long silky white hairs, acuminate at the apex, slightly 2-toothed, the terminal awn rising between the minute teeth. Awn: 1-1.5 mm. long. Palea: Half as long as its lemma, pilose on the back and margins below, 2.5-3.5 mm. long. Fruit: Grain concavo-convex. Habitat: Dry gravelly or sandy soil, plains and rocky hills. April-October. Kansas Range: West third. Use: A range grass.