boesmangras, noun

/ˈbʊsmanxras//ˈbusmanxras//ˈbʊsmənxras/
Forms:
Also boesmansgras, and with initial capital.
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, boesman bushman (+ linking phoneme -s-) + gras grass.
Bushman grass.
1932 M. Henrici in Farming in S. Afr. Apr. 5The plants sampled were the following: Aristida ciliata Fine Twa grass...Aristida obtusa Boesmangras.
1934 C.P. Swart Supplement to Pettman. 18Boesmangras,..The Aristida obtusa, a shrub native to Namaqualand, formerly occupied by Bushmen.
1955 J.D. Scott et al. in D. Meredith Grasses & Pastures 291Aristida...Common names for the genus are numerous. Among the best known are ‘Steekgras’, ‘Bushman grass’, ‘Boesmangras’ and ‘Twa(a)gras’, each with several descriptive adjectives for individual species.
1966 C.A. Smith Common Names 148Boesman(s)gras, To-day a general name for a large number of species of Aristida.
1974 J.M. Coetzee Dusklands 124I know what it is like, it is like rooigras, it is a kind of rooigras. I will call it boesmansgras.
1991 G.E. Gibbs Russell et al. Grasses of Sn Afr. 326Stipagrostis obtusa,..Kortbeenboesmangras. Compact and densely tufted.
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Afrikaans
Boesman, nounn.boet, nounn.
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