Tussac Grass — Chambers's Encyclopaedia

Tussac Grass (Dactylis cespitosa; syns. Festuca cespitosa, F. antarctica, F. flabellata), a large grass of the same genus with the Cock's-foot Grass of Britain, a native of the Falkland Islands, remarkable for forming great tufts, sometimes 5 or 6 feet in height, the long tapering leaves hanging over in graceful curves, from 5 to 8 feet long, and an inch broad at the base. It is, however, sufficiently delicate to be very good food for horses and cattle; and it has been tried with success in the Hebrides, Orkney Islands, and other localities in which there is a peaty soil exposed to winds loaded with sea-spray. The inner part of the stem a little above the root is soft, crisp, flavoured like a hazel-nut, and often eaten by the inhabitants of the Falkland Islands. The young shoots are boiled and eaten as asparagus.

A detailed botanical illustration of Tussac Grass (Dactylis cespitosa). The drawing shows a dense, tufted clump of grass with long, narrow, sword-like leaves that are tightly packed at the base and spread outwards. Several tall, slender flower spikes (inflorescences) rise from the center of the tuft, topped with small, feathery flower heads. The illustration is rendered in a fine-line, etched style typical of 19th-century botanical texts. — Tussac Grass (*Dactylis cespitosa*).