What is "spike grass"

Spike \Spike\, n. [Akin to LG. spiker, spieker, a large nail, D. spijker, Sw. spik, Dan. spiger, Icel. sp[=i]k; all perhaps from L. spica a point, an ear of grain; but in the sense of nail more likely akin to E. spoke of a wheel. Cf. Spine.]

1. A sort of very large nail; also, a piece of pointed iron set with points upward or outward.

2. Anything resembling such a nail in shape.

   He wears on his head the corona radiata . . .; the spikes that shoot out represent the rays of the sun.
   --Addison.

3. An ear of corn or grain.

4. (Bot.) A kind of flower cluster in which sessile flowers are arranged on an unbranched elongated axis.

   Spike grass (Bot.), either of two tall perennial American grasses ( Uniola paniculata, and U. latifolia) having broad leaves and large flattened spikelets.

   Spike rush. (Bot.) See under Rush.

   Spike shell (Zo["o]l.), any pteropod of the genus Styliola having a slender conical shell.

   Spike team, three horses, or a horse and a yoke of oxen, harnessed together, a horse leading the oxen or the span.