Purpletop Tridens
Tridens flavusPurpletop Tridens is a grass native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 2.5–7 ft tall and 2 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and low water, and handles clay soil. Blooms purple in late summer. Good for butterflies.
Will it grow in your yard?
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The facts
6 sources- Type
- Grass
- Sun
- Full sun to part shade (3–6 hrs of direct sun)
- Water
- Low
- Height
- 2.5–7 ft
- Spread
- 2 ft
- Bloom
- Late Summer · purple
- Foliage
- Deciduous or dies back in winter
- Soil
- Takes clay · recorded on dry, loam, saline, sand
- Wildlife
- Supports butterflies
Where it grows
Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:
310 occurrence records in Central Texas (GBIF).
Can you buy it?
Also grows here — hard to find. Native and recorded growing in Central Texas, but not on the grower stock lists we read. Sourcing varies: some are stocked widely, others you will have to hunt for.
also grows from seed It starts readily from seed, so a packet from a native-seed supplier, or seed collected with permission, is often the easiest way to get a plant no nursery pots.