sour grass
Also sour-grass.
[sour a.]
1. A tropical grass of the genus Paspalum.
| 1756 P. Browne Jamaica 365 Sour Grass. The roots and leaves of this plant..cure sores and ulcers. 1864 Grisebach Flora Brit. W. Ind. 787 Sour-grass, Paspalum conjugatum. |
2. One or other variety of sorrel (Rumex or Oxalis). Also attrib.
| 1866 J. E. Brogden Prov. Lincs., Sour-grass, Sour-sauce, the ground sorrel, Oxalis pratense. 1888 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Robbery under Arms xx, The long sour-grass..was dripping with the night dew. 1889 J. H. Maiden Usef. Plants 50 Oxalis corniculata,..‘Clover Sorrel’, or ‘Sour Grass’. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Col. Reformer (1891) 311 Bred in a ‘sour grass’ country, far inferior for fattening purposes. |
3. S. Afr. The coarse grass characteristic of sour veld (see sour a. 11).
| 1801 J. Barrow Acct. Trav. S. Afr. I. iii. 110 That division of the district called the Zuure-veldt, or Sour Grass plains. 1852 M. B. Hudson S. Afr. Frontier Life I. 236 About Graham's Town and Lower Albany is ‘the Zuurveld or Sour Grass Country’. |