Tridens strictus (Nutt.). Longspike Tridens Habit: Tufted perennial. Culms: Stout, erect, 1-1.5 m. tall, mostly in small tufts, sometimes branched. Blades: 20-40 cm. long, 3-8 mm. wide, long-acuminate, smooth except on the margins, flat or loosely involute. Sheaths: Longer or shorter than the internodes. Ligule: A ring of loose hairs 1-2 mm. long. Inflorescence: Panicle 10-30 cm. long, 8-15 mm. wide, dense, spikelike, more or less interrupted below, narrowed above, pale or purplish, the branches appressed, the lower 2-7 cm. long, naked below, progressively shorter above. Spikelets: Pale or purplish, 4-6 mm. long, about 3 mm. wide, 4-8-flowered, the florets closely imbricate, rachilla disarticulating above the glumes and between the florets. Glumes: 4-6 mm. long, from exceeding the lowest floret to as long as the spikelet, equal, 1-nerved, acuminate or irregularly toothed at the apex, the apex spreading, the keel glandular-viscid towards maturity. Lemmas: 2-3 mm. long, oblong, obtuse, toothed, membranous, 3-nerved, pilose on the lower half to two thirds, the keel excurrent as a minute awn up to 1.5 mm. long. Palea: Obtuse, thin, about as long as its lemma, short-ciliate on the sharp keels, not strongly bowed out. Fruit: Grain concavo-convex. Habitat: Moist soil and low woods. July-September. Kansas Range: Southeast twelfth.