wheat grass, any plant of the genus Agropyron, cool-season perennials of the family Gramineae (grass family). Species of wheat grass, both native and introduced, are important range forage grasses in the prairie states. Wheat grasses are also valuable for revegetation because of their drought resistance and winter hardiness. Important species are the crested wheat grass (A. cristatum), introduced from N Russia, and the native Western wheat grass (A. smithii). The weed quack grass also belongs to this genus. Wheat grass is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Cyperales, family Gramineae.

rye grass, short-lived perennial, leafy, tufted plant belonging to the family Gramineae (grass family). Two species are grown in the United States—Italian rye grass (Lolium multiflorum), the leading hay grass of Europe, and English, or perennial, rye grass (L. perenne). In parts of the United States where winters are mild, both are sowed, often mixed with other grains, for pasturage. Italian rye grass is much used for lawns in warmer regions of the United States. Perennial rye grass was probably the first of all perennial grasses to be cultivated pure for forage. Poison rye grass, or darnel (L. temulentum), reputed to be poisonous, grows in grain fields and waste places; it is thought to be the tare of the Bible. Rye grass is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliatae, order Cyperales, family Gramineae.

ribbon grass, ornamental perennial grass (Phalaris arundinacea var. picta), a variety of the reed canary grass. It has green leaves striped with white and is often cultivated in gardens; it is also known as gardener's-garters. It is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Cyperales, family Gramineae.

quaking grass, any plant of the genus Briza, annuals or perennials of the Gramineae (grass family), cultivated for the graceful clusters of seeds, which vibrate in a breeze and are used in everlasting bouquets. The plants are native to temperate regions of Europe and South America and are now widely naturalized in North America. Quaking grass is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Cyperales, family Gramineae.

quack grass or couch grass, Old World perennial grass (Agropyron repens), now widely distributed and in the United States a troublesome weed. It somewhat resembles a beardless wheat and has creeping, yellowish rootstalks, the joints of which, even though detached, are capable of producing new plants; thus quack grass is a good soil binder but extremely difficult to eradicate. The dried sweetish rootstalks have been used medicinally, and the foliage is useful for forage. Quack grass is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Cyperales, family Gramineae.

pampas grass, any species of the genus Cortaderia, tall South American plants of the family Gramineae (grass family) cultivated in warm climates for ornament. The common pampas grass (C. argentea or selloana) is a perennial with a cluster of long narrow drooping leaf blades. The male and female flowers are borne on separate plants; the ones which bear the female flowers have large, silvery, plumelike panicles which are sold for decorative purposes. Pampas grass is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Cyperales, family Gramineae.

orchard grass or cocksfoot, widely distributed perennial grass (Dactylis glomerata) native to Eurasia and N Africa and extensively naturalized in the United States. It is cultivated as a hay grass more tolerant of drought and shade than timothy but less winter-hardy. A variety with silvery-striped leaves is grown as an ornamental. Orchard grass is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Cyperales, family Gramineae.

marram grass: see beach grass.

herd's-grass: see timothy; bent grass.

grass-of-Parnassus: see saxifrage.

grass pink: see orchid.

grass, any plant of the family Gramineae, an important and widely distributed group of vascular plants, having an extraordinary range of adaptation. Numbering approximately 600 genera and 9,000 species, the grasses form the climax vegetation (see ecology) in great areas of low rainfall throughout the world: the prairies and plains of North America, the savannas and pampas of South America, the steppes and plains of Eurasia, and the veldt of Africa.

Most grasses are annual or perennial herbs with fibrous roots and, often, rhizomes. The stems are always noded and are typically hollow and swollen at the nodes, although many genera have solid stems. The leaves have two parts: a sheath surrounding the stem (called the culm in grasses); and a blade, usually flat and linear. The flowers are of a unique form, the inflorescence being subdivided into spikelets each containing one or more tiny florets. (In other flowering plants the inflorescences are clusters of separate flowers, never spikelets.) The dry seedlike fruit is called a caryopsis, or grain.

Economically the grass family is of far greater importance than any other. The cereal grasses, e.g., wheat, rice, corn, oats, barley, and rye, provide the grain that is the staple food of most of mankind and the major type of feed. The grasses also include most of the hay and pasture plants, e.g., sorghum, timothy, bent grass, bluegrass, orchard grass, and fescue. Popularly the word grass is used chiefly for these latter and for the lawn grass types; it is also loosely applied to plants which are not true grasses (e.g., clover and alfalfa) but which are similarly grown.

Molasses and sugar are products of sugarcane and sorghum, both grasses. Many liquors are made from grains and molasses. Plants of the grass family are also a source of industrial ethyl alcohol, corn starch and byproducts, newsprint and other types of paper, and numerous lesser items. Especially in the tropics, species of reed, bamboo (one of the few woody types), and other genera are used for thatching and construction. As food, grasses are as important for wildlife as for domesticated animals. They are able to survive grazing because their intercalary meristems are set back from the apex of the plant. Because of the tenacious nature of their large underground root system, grasses (e.g., beach grass) are often introduced to prevent erosion. Grasses are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Cyperales, family Gramineae.

couch grass, name for several grasses, among them quack grass.

cotton grass, common name for sedges of the genus Eriophorum.

bur grass: see sandbur.

buffalo grass, low perennial grass (Buchloe dactyloides) of the plains regions, one of the most important range grasses. Its dense matted growth is valuable also in erosion control. Buffalo grass usually grows together with the grama, or mesquite, grasses (genus Bouteloua), especially blue grama and side-oats grama. These taller grasses have the same distribution as buffalo grass, but none of them produce a continuous sod, as prairie grasses do. Buffalo grass is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Cyperales, family Gramineae.

brome grass, common name for any plant of the genus Bromus, chiefly large, coarse grasses of a weedy nature; some, however, are useful as forage, and others are cultivated for decoration. Some of the better-known bromes are the smooth brome (B. inermis, sometimes called awnless, or Hungarian, brome), often cultivated for pasture or for holding banks; rescue grass (B. catharticus or B. unioloides), a forage in the Southern states; and chess, or cheat (B. secalinus), a pest of grainfields, formerly believed by some to be degenerate wheat. Many species of brome grasses develop sharp-barbed fruits at maturity that are injurious to stock (whence the name ripgut grass for some); before maturity these are often used for forage. Brome grasses are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Cyperales, family Gramineae.

blue-eyed grass: see iris.

bent grass, any species of the genus Agrostis of the family Gramineae (grass family), chiefly slender, delicate plants native to cool climates. Many are used for forage or lawns. Important species naturalized from Europe include the creeping bent (A. palustris), a lawn and putting-green grass; colonial bent (A. tenuis), frequently used in lawn mixtures; and especially, redtop (A. alba), called also fiorin and herd's-grass. Redtop, a perennial with reddish panicles, is much used (often mixed with clover) for pasture and hay in NE America; it is also effective in erosion control. The cloud grass (A. nebulosa), native to Spain, is cultivated for use as an everlasting. Bent grass is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Cyperales, family Gramineae.

beach grass or marram grass, any species of the genus Ammophila, perennial grasses used to control the shifting of sand dunes, thereby protecting sandy coastal areas. The European beach grass (A. arenaria) has been used to hold dunes in Europe and was early planted at Cape Cod to bind the sands; later it was used at Golden Gate Park and elsewhere in the United States. The American beach grass (A. breviligulata) is native to dunes of the Great Lakes and much of the eastern seacoast. Beach grasses have creeping rootstocks that rapidly form an extensive root system. Beach grasses are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Cyperales, family Gramineae.

Sudan grass: see sorghum.

Johnson grass: see sorghum.

Grass, Günter, 1927-, German novelist, lyricist, artist, and playwright, b. Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland). Writing from his experience in the Hitler Youth, the German army, and as a prisoner of war, Grass deplores fascist militarism. The anguish of war and the social and political problems that West Germany faced before reunification are the principal concerns of his fiction.

His novel Die Blechtrommel (1959; tr. The Tin Drum, 1961), which brought him world renown, reveals his bizarre sense of humor and superb linguistic gifts. Related by Oskar Matzerath, a strange dwarf drummer, it aroused controversy in Germany with its idiosyncratic yet clear-eyed portrayal of recent German history from the prewar period, through the Nazi regime, to the Wirtschaftswunder of the postwar era. His second novel, Hundejahre (1963; tr. Dog Years, 1965), is a monumental work that also aroused considerable controversy. Set in Danzig, it deals, often grotesquely, with the Nazi years as it explores Germany's destiny and conscience and the nature of individual flight from reality. Grass's early poems and plays are marked by a sensitivity for imagery and a tendency toward symbolism and ambiguity (see Selected Poems, tr. 1966; Four Plays, tr. 1967; New Poems, tr. 1968).

His later works mainly reflect a period of intense political activism. Student unrest in Berlin and the political "generation gap" are the themes of his novel Örtlich betäubt (1969; tr. Local Anaesthetic, 1970) and a play adaptation, Davor (1970; tr. Max, 1972). Grass's reflections on his life in Berlin and his political activities are the basis for the novel Aus dem Tagebuch einer Schnecke (1972; tr. From the Diary of a Snail, 1973). His highly acclaimed novel Der Butt (1977; tr. The Flounder, 1978), which contrasts the destructiveness of men with the sanity of women, examines such matters as politics, feminism, and the art of cooking.

Grass's major 1990s work, the novel Ein Weites Feld (1995; tr. A Broad Field, 1995; tr. Too Far Afield, 2000) was widely criticized for rambling plotlessness. It also caused controversy because of its implied condemnation of Germany as an inherently dangerous nation forever inclined to authoritarianism, as well as for its suggested disapproval of reunification. Grass returned to nearly universal praise with Im Krebsgang (2002; tr. Crabwalk, 2002), his first 21st-century novel. Hauntingly descriptive, it centers on a real wartime occurence, the 1945 Soviet torpedoing of the German refugee ship Wilhelm Gustloff that killed more than 9,000. Mingling tragedy with irony, Grass uses this event, mixed with the fictional story of a single German family, to illuminate various phases in 20th-century German history, creating a story that moves, crablike, backward and forward through the detritus of crime and guilt in Germany's recent past.

Grass's other works include a collection of speeches and open letters entitled Speak Out! (tr. 1969) and the novels Mariazuehren (1973; tr. Inmarypraise, 1974) and Unkenrufe (1992; tr. The Call of the Toad, 1992). In 1999, Grass was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his "frolicsome black fables [that] portray the forgotten face of history." Grass's memoir Beim Haüten der Zwiebel [peeling the onion] (2006), which follows his life from childhood to 1959 and the publication of The Tin Drum, is a sensitive examination of his past and a meditation on the nature of memory. In it, Grass, whom many have long considered Germany's moral conscience and who has constantly urged his fellow countrymen to face up to the shame of their Nazi history, shocked many Germans and troubled other admirers with his belated admission that as a youth, late in World War II, he had served in the Nazi Waffen SS.

China grass: see nettle.

Bermuda grass, perennial pasture, lawn, and hay grass (Cynodon dactylon) of the family Gramineae (grass family), native to Africa and Asia and now common in warm regions of both hemispheres. It is the standard pasture grass in the S United States. It is heat- and drought-resistant and grows in almost any soil that is not too wet or shady, spreading rapidly and often becoming a weed. Bermuda grass is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Cyperales, family Gramineae.

or quack grass

Rapidly spreading grass (Agropyron repens) with flat, somewhat hairy leaves and erect flower spikes, native to Europe and introduced into other northern temperate areas for forage or erosion control. In cultivated land, it is considered a weed because of its persistence. Its long, yellowish-white rhizomes must be completely dug up to eradicate the plant because broken rhizomes generate new plants. Couch grass has been used in various home remedies in Europe, and the rhizomes have been eaten during periods of famine.

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Perennial grass (Phleum pratense) of the family Poaceae (or Gramineae), native to Europe and widely cultivated as a hay and pasture grass in North America. The stems grow in large clumps, are 1.5–3 ft (0.5–1 m) tall, and have swollen, bulblike bases. The flower clusters are long, dense, and cylindrical. Alpine, or mountain, timothy (P. alpinum) is about half as tall and occurs in wet areas from Greenland to Alaska, and at high altitudes in many other parts of North America and Europe.

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(born July 17, 1745, Salem, Mass.—died Jan. 29, 1829, Salem, Mass., U.S.) U.S. politician. He joined the militia in 1766 and served in the American Revolution under George Washington, becoming adjutant general (1777–78) and quartermaster general (1780–85). He later served as U.S. postmaster general (1791–95), secretary of war (1795), and secretary of state (1795–1800). He served in the U.S. Senate from 1803 to 1811 and in the House of Representatives from 1813 to 1817. A leader of the Federalist Party, he was a member of the Essex Junto, and he opposed the War of 1812. After retiring from politics, he turned to experimental farming and education.

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Any of more than a dozen species of snakes (genus Thamnophis, family Colubridae) with a striped pattern that resembles a garter: usually one or three longitudinal yellow or red stripes, with checkered blotches between. Forms in which the stripes are obscure or lacking are called grass snakes. Found in gardens and vacant lots, garters are among the most common snakes from Canada to Central America. They are small (usually less than 24 in., or 60 cm, long) and harmless, though some will strike if provoked. They eat insects, earthworms, and amphibians.

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Any of many low, green, nonwoody plants that make up the families Poaceae (or Gramineae), Cyperaceae (sedges), and Juncaceae (rushes). Only the approximately 8,000–10,000 species in the family Poaceae are true grasses. They are the most economically important of all flowering plants because of their nutritious grains and soil-forming function, and they are the most widespread and most numerous of plants. The cereal grasses include wheat, corn, rice, rye, oats, barley, and millet. Grasses provide forage for grazing animals, shelter for wildlife, and construction materials, furniture, utensils, and food for humans. Some species are grown as garden ornamentals, cultivated as turf for lawns and recreational areas, or used as cover plants for erosion control. Most have hollow, segmented, round stems, bladelike leaves, and extensively branching fibrous root systems.

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Either of two species of gray-green needlegrasses (Stipa tenacissima and Lygeum spartum), native to southern Spain and northern Africa, or the fibre produced by esparto. L. spartum grows in rocky soil on the high plains. S. tenacissima flourishes in sandy, iron-rich soils in dry, sunny locations on the seacoast. Esparto fibre has great strength and flexibility; it is used for making ropes, sandals, baskets, mats, and other durable articles. Esparto leaves are used in the manufacture of paper.

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Any of the annual or perennial grasses that make up the genus Agrostis, in the family Poaceae (or Gramineae), found in temperate and cool regions and at high altitudes in subtropical and tropical areas. At least 40 species are found in the U.S.; some are weeds, others forage and turf plants. They have slender stems and flat blades. Many spread by creeping stolons. Redtop (A. gigantea) is a hay and pasture grass. Creeping bent (A. stolonifera variety palustris) and colonial bent (A. tenuis) are popular lawn grasses; the many strains of both species are planted in golf courses and bowling greens, where they are closely cut to develop a fine, spongy, firm turf.

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Either of two species of North American plants that make up the genus Xerophyllum, in the lily family. The western species, X. tenax, also known as elk grass, squaw grass, and fire lily, is a smooth, light-green mountain perennial with a stout, unbranched stem and grasslike, rough-edged leaves at the bottom. It flowers at five to seven years, bearing a large cluster of small, creamy white flowers at the top of the stem. The turkey beard (X. asphodeloides) of southern North America is a similar plant that grows in dry pine barrens. In the southern and southwestern U.S., the name bear grass is given to various kinds of yucca and to the camas (Camassia scilloides) and the aloelike Dasylirion texanum.

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