Definition of "silkgrass" []

• Valuable forage grass of dry upland areas and plains of western North America to northern Mexico (noun)

WordNet. Princeton University. 2010.

• "These ermine skins are the same kind of narrow strips from the back of that animal, which are sewed round a small cord of twisted silkgrass thick enough to make the skin taper towards the tail which hangs from the end, and are generally about the size of a large quill."
• "N.side. there is scarcely any water at present in the plains and what there is, lies in small pools and is so strongly impregnated with the mineral salts that it is unfit for any purpose except the uce of the buffaloe. these animals appear to prefer this water to that of the river. the wild liquorice and sunflower are very abundant in the plains and river bottoms, the latter is now in full blume; the silkgrass and sand rush are also common to the bottom lands. the musquetoes have not been troublesome to us since we left the whitebear islands."