[See SWEET a. and GRASS sb.] Any kind of grass (or herb called ‘grass’) of a sweet taste serving as fodder; spec. a book-name for the genus Glyceria; also locally, the woodruff, Asperula odorata, and the grass-wrack, Zostera marina (Britten & Holland). Also applied to a species of Heracleum: see quot. 1784.
1577. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. 45. The best hearbe for Pasture or Meddowe, is the Trefoyle or Clauer: the next is sweete Grasse.
1709. T. Robinson, Nat. Hist. Westmoreld., iii. 20. Bituminous Peat Earth … when burnt, limed, and manured … will produce a new Set of sweet Grass, as Clover, both white and red.
1784. King, Cook’s Voy. Pacific, III. 336. The other plant alluded to is called the sweet grass; the botanical description is Heracleum Sibericum foliis pinnatis [etc.]. In May … it was … covered with a white down, or dust,… it tasted as sweet as sugar; but was hot and pungent.
1908. Animal Managem., 109. The ‘Reed Sweet grass,’ ‘Floating sweet grass.’
1913. C. Pettman, Africanderisms, Sweet grass, the food plants growing on rich alluvial soil.
