ˈpepper-grass
a. Any species of Lepidium, as L. sativum, common garden-cress; from the pungent taste. b. = pillwort, Pilularia globulifera, family Marsileaceæ: cf. pepperwort 2.
| c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 787/6 Nomina bladorum et arborum..Hec salmea, a pepyrgresse. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 322 Pepper-grass, Pilularia. 1828–32 Webster, Peppergrass,..also, a plant of the genus Lepidium. 1856 in Olmsted Slave States 708 A widow and her children living, for three days and nights, on boiled weeds, called pepper grass. |