rooigras, noun

/ˈrɔɪxras/
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, rooi red + gras grass.
Any of several good pasture grasses of the Poaceae with a reddish tinge, especially Themeda triandra but also species of Cymbopogon and Hyparrhenia; red grass; rooigrass. Also attributive.
[1887 S.W. Silver & Co.’s Handbk to S. Afr. 158There has..been sent a specimen of pasture herb which, though not poisonous is said to be worthless. It is called Wilde rooi gras; this, though grass-like and called a grass, is a Trefoil or Clover, Trifolium angustifolium, the narrow-leaved trefoil.]
1916 Farmer’s Weekly 20 Dec. 1519Nothing in the world of veld food could beat ‘rooigras’ and ‘Cynodon’ for grass lands.
1929 J.W. Bews World’s Grasses 253‘Rooi gras’..is a valuable forage grass.
1937 Handbk for Farmers (Dept of Agric. & Forestry) 159A farmer..having steekgras dominating his veld cannot follow the same system of grazing as the farmer who has rooigras dominant.
1950 Cape Times 30 Oct. 9A.C. Erasmus scattered the first rooigras seeds in the..bare land recently cleared.
1972 J.G. Anderson in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. V. 320A large number of species e.g. Guinea grass,..rooigras,..are important pasture grasses or are used as hay or silage.
c1980 S. Afr. 1979: Off. Yrbk (Info. Service of S. Afr.) 18In the ‘sweet’ grassveld areas ‘rooigras’ (themeda) is the dominating grass, forming a dense sod in places. Where original ‘rooigras’ cover has been destroyed, less valuable species have taken over, e.g. ‘steekgras’.
1987 E. Prov. Herald 24 Aug. 10Rooigras needs undisturbed periods of about 90 days to recover from leaf removal after defoliation.
1990 R. Malan My Traitor’s Heart 288She stopped occasionally to exclaim over a rare plant, or to point out a patch of rooigras, ‘red grass’.
Any of several good pasture grasses of the Poaceae with a reddish tinge, especially Themeda triandra but also species of Cymbopogon and Hyparrhenia; red grass; rooigrass. Also attributive.
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Afrikaans
rooi gevaar, noun phrasen. phr.rooigrass, nounn.
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