Couchgrass

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A coarse perennial grass that spreads through creeping underground stems and is often regarded as a troublesome weed in gardens and farmland
2. A wiry grass species whose spreading rhizomes make it a persistent weed of cultivated ground and pastures
3. An invasive perennial grass with far-reaching underground runners that farmers and gardeners treat as a stubborn weed

Etymology: Couch grass is a hardy perennial weed, and its name has a plain, traceable logic. The first element, "couch," is an older form of "couched," meaning laid down or lying flat, which describes how the plant spreads: it sends out long, creeping underground stems that root at the joints and lie low across the ground. Gardeners have long found it hard to dig out, since any fragment of those pale rhizomes can sprout into a new plant. The second element is simply "grass," and the compound is the ordinary English pattern of a descriptive noun followed by the plant's general name. The spelling "couchgrass," written as one word, is an alternative to the two-word "couch grass" and means the same thing.

Synonyms: quackgrass, witchgrass, twitch