Rye Grass

🇺🇸 History in the United States

Perennial ryegrass holds the distinction of being one of the first grasses ever deliberately cultivated for pasture, sown in England as early as 1677, and it came to America with early European settlers who planted it for livestock forage; its presence in Virginia is documented by 1782. Through the 18th and 19th centuries it was a standard component of pasture and meadow seed mixes in the eastern states, and it later became a staple 'nurse grass' and overseeding grass because of its rapid germination. A defining chapter of its American history is the rise of the grass-seed industry in Oregon's Willamette Valley beginning in the early 20th century; the valley became the self-styled 'grass seed capital of the world,' producing most of the nation's ryegrass seed, and field burning and heavy pollen loads there made grass allergy a notable regional public-health issue. The first turf-type perennial ryegrass cultivars were released in the US in the early 1960s, vastly expanding its use in lawns and athletic fields. Ryegrass is also central to the scientific history of allergy: the pioneering fractionation work of Johnson and Marsh in 1965 isolated the major ryegrass pollen allergen 'Rye I' (now Lol p 1), one of the first pollen allergens ever purified, and about 95% of grass-pollen-allergic patients carry IgE to it.