Ruth Winter.1978. A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives. Crown Publishers, Inc., New York.
a rough grass, a pernicious weed in cultivated fields.
http://www1.umn.edu/webdd/prepcare/quackgr.html Minnesota Gardening Accessed November 2007
Quackgrass (Elytrigia repens) is an undesirable, cool season, perennial grass that reproduces by seed or underground rhizomes and can reach 3 1/2' high. It establishes itself in dense mats and is often introduced to the garden by rototillers or soil movement.It detracts from the overall uniformity of a "well maintained" lawn.
Quackgrass is native to Europe and Western Asia. It moved around the world with the movements of man in cereal crops. Today, it is often considered one of the three most serious weeds because it infests 37 different crops in 65 countries.