cheatgrass

Bromus tectorum, drooping brome, native to Europe, thought to create an ecology prone to annual fires in many US areas

Noun

  1. Bromus tectorum, drooping brome, native to Europe, thought to create an ecology prone to annual fires in many US areas
    • It took maybe nine or ten years more of westward drift, over the rolling prairie, through the cheatgrass, the sage grouse exploding skyward […] - 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 98:

Origin

From cheat + grass (reputedly because farmers felt cheated when wheat yields were lower because of cheatgrass invading their fields).

Forms

cheatgrasses