tr. Palladius De re Rustica (Duke Humfrey) (1896) xii. l. 148 (MED) Vppon their [sc. peaches'] bowes spartea [L. spartea] do [read to] honge Is good for hem, or sparte [L. spartum] v[n]til hem bynde.

1585 A. Golding tr. P. Mela Worke of Cosmographer vi. 56 It is so plenteous and fruitfull of Men, Horsses, Iron, Leade, Brasse, Siluer and Golde, that if in any place it be fruitlesse and vnlike it selfe, for want of water, yet it beareth Flaxe and Spart.

1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xxii. xx. 444 They found great store of Spart [L. sparti] (to make cables) provided and laid up there by Asdruball to serve the navie.

1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 188 I wot not well whether Homer meant it, when he said, that the ship-sparts were vntwisted and loose. For this is certain, that neither the spart of Africk, ne yet the Spanish spart was as yet in any vse.

1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Architecture I. 58 Under these we ought to lay Fern, or Spart, to keep the mortar from rotting the Timber.

1809 tr. A. L. J. de Laborde View of Spain I. 9 A plain..fertile in flax and spart, or sea-rush.

1854 Encycl. Americana (new ed.) II. 282/1 Spanish broom, or spart (spartium junceum), is an ornamental flowering shrub, common in English gardens, which has opposite round branches, that flower at the top, and spear-shaped leaves.

1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 1076/2 Spart, the Esparto.

2007 A. B. Stein Morocco 24 The dry, high plateaus of southern Morocco contain vast stretches of Esparto grass and sparte (Lygeum spartum).

1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 156 The Roper..suffereth an asse behind him to gnaw and eate a rope as fast as he twisteth it of the Spartbroome.

1873 Ann. Rep. Commerc. Relations U.S. & Foreign Nations 1872 518 (table) Spart-grass... 2, 000, 000 [pounds].

1909 Eng. Rev. Feb. 462 Discussing the while the olive harvest, the price of spart-grass and the chances of the bull-ring.

1975 Marine Fisheries Rev. (U.S. Dept. Commerce) Oct. 13/1 The ropes are either 0.5 inch nylon or 1-inch local spart grass.

1614 in J. Barmby Memorials St. Giles's, Durham (1896) 44 For one thrave of spartes to the Bull house.

1792 Trans. Soc. Arts 10 127 Wild marshy grass, rushes, sparts, bents, brambles and brushwood.

1829 J. T. Brockett Gloss. North Country Words (new ed.) Spart, a dwarf rush; common on the Northern moors and wastes.

1913 N. L. Britton & A. Brown Illustr. Flora Northern U.S. (ed. 2) I. 224 Spartina stricta... Spart-grass, Twin Spike-grass, Low Creek-stuff.

1983 M. Y. Hough New Jersey Wild Plants 194 Juncus articulatus - Jointed Rush, Spart. Rush Family. Native, circumboreal. Scattered in the northwest Jersey uplands.

2000 K. Ackerman Dear Will 22 He spotted..a marsh hawk hovering above the wide expanse of spart grass.