228 A DICTIONARY OF 
Grass, Spear. (]) Various species of Agrostis. — Suff. 
(2) Triticum repens, L. — Suff. Hal. 
(3) Alopecurus agrestis, L. — Holdich, Essay on Weeding. Mr. 
EUacombe (Plant-lore of Shakespeare, p. 218) has an interesting note 
on the passage ‘ to tickle our noses with speargrass to make them 
bleed’ (1st Henry lY. Act ii. sc. 4), which may be consulted : he con- 
siders (2) to be here meant. In the passage he quotes from Lupton’s 
Notable Things, Speargrass may be Ranunculus Flammula, L. Dr. 
Prior (p. 218) suggests Pliragmites communis, Trin. 
Grass, Spire. ‘ A tall species of sedge/ Nhamp. Sternb. A species 
of Carex. See Spire. 
Grass, Spring. Anthoxanthum odoratum, L. — AVith. ed. ii. See 
Grass, Prim. Prior, p. 220. 
Grass, Spurt. (1) Scirpus maritimus, L. — Kent, Holdich, Essay on 
Weeds ; Isle of Thanet, With. ed. vii. Prior (p. 221) includes also 
S. lacustris, L., under the name. 
Grass, Squirrel-tail. (1) Hordeum muHniim, L. — Kent (Thanet). 
‘ We have been informed, on the most respectable authority, that in 
the Isle of Thanet this grass is well known to the innkeepers, who 
call it Squirrel-tail grass ; and find, that if horses feed on it for some 
time, the beards or awns of the spikes stick into their gums, and make 
them so sore, that they are in danger of being starved. The gentle- 
man, who related to me this fact, informed me, that on the road he 
had a bill put into his hand, signifying, that at such an inn travellers 
might depend on having good hay for their cattle, without any 
mixture of Squirrel-tail- grass.'* Curtis, Flora Londinensis. A note 
in With. ed. vii. states however that H. maritimum, L., is ‘ the true 
Squirrel-tail grass of the Isle of Thanet,’ the awns of this being more 
rigid and more strongly barbed than in H. murinum. The name is 
probably common to both ; in gardens another species, H. jubatum, is 
BO called. In the Isle of Wight the name is given to H. pratense, L. 
(Phyt. iv. 10, o. s.); the form of the spike having evidently suggested 
it. Prior, p. 222. 
Grass, Squitch. (1) Triticum repens, L. — AVith. ed. ii. Warw.; 
Ireland. Prior, p. 222. 
(2) Agrostis stolonifera, L. — Prior, p. 222. See Grass, Q,uick. 
Grass, Stander. Orchis mascula, L., and allied plants. Lyte. 
Prior, p. 222. 
Grass, Star. (1) A book-name for the genus CalUtriche, L. — With, 
ed. ii. Prior, p. 222. 
(2) Stellaria Holostea, L. — Yhs. (Sheffield). 
(3) Scirpus maritimus, L. — Aherdeensh. (Logie Buchan) Statistical 
Acct. of Scotland, xii. 804. 
(4) Carex panicea, L. — Renfrewsh. (Meams), Statistical Account of 
Scotland, vii. 618. 
Grass, Steep. Pinguicula vulgaris, L. — Ireland (Belfast), Flora 
Belfastiensis ; from its property of curdling milk. In Lane, and Ches. 
the rennet with which cheese is made is called steep, because a portion 
