ˈnut-grass
[f. nut n.1 + grass n.]
A small sedge of the genus Cyperus, esp. C. rotundus, whose roots form small nut-like tubers.
| 1775 B. Romans Conc. Nat. Hist. Florida 129 In Carolina it [sc. herbe au cheval] is called nutt grass from a nutt found at its root. 1830 Lindley Nat. Syst. Bot. 306 Cyperus Hydra is said by Dr. Hamilton to be a pest to the sugar-cane plantations of the West India Islands... The planters call it Nut Grass. 1857 A. Gray First Less. Bot. (1866) 43 Tubers are produced, like those of the Nut-grass of the Southern States..and of the Jerusalem Artichoke. 1860 Darlington Amer. Weeds, etc. 359 C. phymatodes, ‘Nut Grass’ of Florida. Ibid. 360 Hydra Cyperus, ‘Nut-grass’ of S. Carolina. 1894 J. M. Coulter Bot. W. Texas iii. 463 Cyperus rotundus... From the South Atlantic and Gulf States to the Texan coast... Often called ‘nut grass’. 1903 ‘S. Rudd’ Our New Selection iv. 36 Nothing but burr and thistle and nut-grass grew. 1944 Living off Land ii. 42 The little bulbs of the onion weed (or nut grass). 1965 Austral. Encycl. VIII. 68/1 The latter species [sc. Cyperus rotundus], known as ‘nut grass’, is widely spread in warmer parts of the world (including Australia) and is a serious weed pest—probably the worst in areas where rice is extensively cultivated. |