This item is about as far out as a thread can be, I venture.
Last month, while in southern Ontario, traveling from Toronto to cottage country (past Peterborough), I spotted numerous clumps/clusters of a tall (5-8 feet) grasslike plant growing in the ditch adjacent to the highway. What was striking about it, other than its height, was that it was rust-colored from top to bottom. About 6 inches from the tip there was a bulge of some sort on the stems, perhaps 4 inches long, but definitely not an awn.
Guidebooks in the provincial parks were unilluminating. Several searches via the Internet yielded only an apparent "kissing cousin", something like Sorghastrum nutans (L.) Nash — Indiangrass, Yellow indian grass (
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=SONU2).
Calls to various garden centers and a university garden line were equally frustrating.
Anybody got a clue?