cow-wheat; a genus of the angiosperma order, belonging to the didynamia class of plants. There are four species, all of them natives of Britain, and growing spontaneously among cornfields. They are excellent food for cattle; and Linnaeus tells us, that where they abound the yellowest and best butter is made. Their seeds, when mixed with bread, give it a dusky colour; and, according to some authors, produce a vertigo, and other disorders of the head; but this is denied by Mr Withering, though he allows that they give it a bitter taste.