| grama grass | <botany> The name of several kinds of pasture grasses found in the Western United States, especially. The Bouteloua oligostachya. Origin: Sp. Grama a sort of grass. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| grass | 1. To cover with grass or with turf. 2. To expose, as flax, on the grass for bleaching, etc. 3. To bring to the grass or ground; to land; as, to grass a fish. Origin: Grassed; Grassing. 1. Popularly: Herbage; the plants which constitute the food of cattle and other beasts; pasture. 2. <botany> An endogenous plant having simple leaves, a stem generally jointed and tubular, the husks or glumes in pairs, and the seed single. This definition includes wheat, rye, oats, barley, etc, and excludes clover and some other plants which are commonly called by the name of grass. The grasses form a numerous family of plants. 3. The season of fresh grass; spring. "Two years old next grass." (Lathsm) 4. Metaphorically used for what is transitory. "Surely the people is grass." (Is. Xl. 7) The following list includes most of the grasses of the United States of special interest, except cereals. Many of these terms will be found with definitions in the Vocabulary. Barnyard grass, for hay. South. Panicum Grus-galli. Bent, pasture and hay. Agrostis, several species. Bermuda grass, pasture. South. Cynodon Dactylon. Black bent. Same as Switch grass (below). Blue bent, hay. North and West. Andropogon provincialis. Blue grass, pasture. Poa compressa. Blue joint, hay. Northwest. Aqropyrum glaucum. Buffalo grass, grazing. Rocky Mts, etc. Buchloe dectyloides. Same as Grama grass (below). Bunch grass, grazing. Far West. Eriocoma, Festuca, Stips, etc. Chess, or Cheat, a weed. Bromus secalinus, etc. Couch grass. Same as Quick grass (below). Crab grass, Hay, in South. A weed, in North. Panicum sanguinale. Pasture and hay. South. Eleusine Indica. Darnel Bearded, a noxious weed. Lolium temulentum. Common. Same as Rye grass (below). Drop seed, fair for forage and hay. Muhlenbergia, several species. English grass. Same as Redtop (below). Fowl meadow grass. Pasture and hay. Poa serotina. Hay, on moist land. Gryceria nervata. Gama grass, cut fodder. South. Tripsacum dactyloides. Grama grass, grazing. West and Pacific slope. Bouteloua oligostachya, etc. Great bunch grass, pasture and hay. Far West. Festuca scabrella. Guinea grass, hay. South. Panicum jumentorum. Herd's grass, in new England Timothy, in Pennsylvania and South Redtop. Indian grass. Same as Wood grass (below). Italian rye grass, forage and hay. Lolium Italicum. Johnson grass, grazing aud hay. South and Southwest. Sorghum Halepense. Kentucky blue grass, pasture. Poa pratensis. Lyme grass, coarse hay. South. Elymus, several species. Manna grass, pasture and hay. Glyceria, several species. Meadow fescue, pasture and hay. Festuca elatior. Meadow foxtail, pasture, hay, lawn. North. Alopecurus pratensis. Meadow grass, pasture, hay, lawn. Poa, several species. Mesquite, or Muskit grass. Same as Grama grass (above). Nimble Will, a kind of drop seed. Muhlenbergia diffsa. Orchard grass, pasture and hay. Dactylis glomerata. Porcupine grass, troublesome to sheep. Northwest. Stipa spartea. Quaking grass, ornamental. Briza media and maxima. Quitch, or Quick, grass, etc, a weed. Agropyrum repens. Ray grass. Same as Rye grass (below). Redtop, pasture and hay. Agrostis vulgaris. Red-topped buffalo grass, forage. Northwest. Poa tenuifolia. Reed canary grass, of slight value. Phalaris arundinacea. Reed meadow grass, hay. North. Glyceria aquatica. Ribbon grass, a striped leaved form of Reed canary grass. Rye grass, pasture, hay. Lolium perenne, var. Seneca grass, fragrant basket work, etc. North. Hierochloa borealis. Sesame grass. Same as Gama grass (above). Sheep's fescue, sheep pasture, native in Northern Europe and Asia. Festuca ovina. Small reed grass, meadow pasture and hay. North. Deyeuxia Canadensis. Spear grass, Same as Meadow grass (above). Squirrel-tail grass, troublesome to animals. Seacoast and Northwest. Hordeum jubatum. Switch grass, hay, cut young. Panicum virgatum. Timothy, cut young, the best of hay. North. Phleum pratense. Velvet grass, hay on poor soil. South. Holcus lanatus. Vernal grass, pasture, hay, lawn. Anthoxanthum odoratum. Wire grass, valuable in pastures. Poa compressa. Wood grass, Indian grass, hay. Chrysopogon nutans. Many plants are popularly called grasses which are not true grasses botanically considered, such as black grass, goose grass, star grass, etc. Black grass, a kind of small rush (Juncus Gerardi), growing in salt marshes, used for making salt hay. Grass of the Andes, an oat grass, the Arrhenatherum avenaceum of Europe. Grass of Parnassus, a plant of the genus Parnassia growing in wet ground. The European species is P. Palustris; in the United States there are several species. Grass bass, the upland or field plover. <botany> Grass poly, to raise, as ore, to the surface of the ground. To put to grass, To put out to grass, to put out to graze a season, as cattle. Origin: OE. Gras, gres, gers, AS, qrs, grs; akin to OFries. Gres, gers, OS, D, G, Icel, & Goth. Gras, Dan. Grs, Sw. Grs, and prob. To Z. Grcen, grow. Cf. Graze. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| grass bacillus | <bacteria> Bacillus subtilis is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, nonpathogenic bacterium which lives in soil. Its genome has been widely studied and is frequently used in genetic engineering and microbiology experiments. (09 Oct 1997) |
| grass tetany | A highly fatal disease of cows and sheep occurring generally during the first two weeks in the spring after the animals have been out on lush pastures; it is characterised by convulsions, hypomagnesaemia, and usually hypocalcaemia. Synonym: wheat pasture poisoning. (05 Mar 2000) |
| grass tree | <botany> An Australian plant of the genus Xanthorrhoea, having a thick trunk crowned with a dense tuft of pendulous, grasslike leaves, from the center of which arises a long stem, bearing at its summit a dense flower spike looking somewhat like a large cat-tail. These plants are often called "blackboys" from the large trunks denuded and blackened by fire. They yield two kinds of fragrant resin, called Botany-bay gum, and Gum Acaroides. A similar Australian plant (Kingia australis). Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| guatemala grass | <botany> See Teosinte. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| Moeller's grass bacillus | A saprophytic bacterium widely distributed in soil and dust and on plants. (12 Dec 1998) |
| water star grass | <botany> An aquatic plant (Schollera graminea) with grassy leaves, and yellow star-shaped blossoms. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| hair grass | <botany> A grass with very slender leaves or branches; as the Agrostis scabra, and several species of Aira or Deschampsia. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| hard grass | <botany> A name given to several different grasses, especially to the Roltbollia incurvata, and to the species of aegilops, from one of which it is contended that wheat has been derived. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| hariali grass | <botany> The East Indian name of the Cynodon Dactylon; dog's-grass. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| scutch grass | <botany> A kind of pasture grass (Cynodon Dactylon). See Bermuda grass: also Illustration in Appendix. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| sea grass | <botany> Eelgrass. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| squitch grass | <botany> Quitch grass. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| dog's-tail grass | <botany> A hardy species of British grass (Cynosurus cristatus) which abounds in grass lands, and is well suited for making straw plait. Synonym: goldseed. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |