ant rice

English

Etymology

So called because it grows around ant nests in Texas and has been thought to be cultivated by the ants for the sake of its seed.

Noun

ant rice (uncountable)

1. Grass of species Aristida oligantha.
   • 1998, Stephen Welton Taber, The World of the Harvester Ants, page 33:

     […] LINCECUM HYPOTHESIS The Lincecum Hypothesis, or the ant-rice story, is a strangely romantic idea from the Civil War era that has now lost favor. This controversy revolved around the claim that harvesters not only collect seeds […] .

References

• Aristida oligantha on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Aristida oligantha on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Aristida oligantha on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• “ant”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• tacrine, nacrite, certain, tricane, Cretian, anticer, crinate, Rectina, ceratin, citrean, Catrine, Certain, cantier, creatin, tercian