Green’s Dictionary of Slang

sparrow-grass n.

asparagus.

c.1630		‘The Jovial Companions’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) I 86: Both Chicken and sparrow grass she did provide.
1699		N. Ward London Spy VXII 154: He that sent the Gardiner to cut a Hundred of Sparigrass.
1764		Foote Mayor of Garrat in Works (1799) I 181: I should recommend the opening a new branch of trade; sparagrass, gentlemen, the manufacturing of sparagrass.
1803		S. Pegge Anecdotes of the Eng. Lang. 54: My first is a little thing vot hops,—(sparrow) / My second brings us good hay crops,—(grass) / My whole I eats with mutton chops,—(sparrow grass).
1833		H. Smith Gale Middleton 2 28: One on ’em called sparow-grass ass-sparrow-grass [...] and cowcumbers the t’other called coocumbers.
1849		Thackeray Pendennis I 228: Lady Clavering talked about Sparrowgrass instead of Asparagus, or called an object a hobject.
1855		J.S. Coyne Pippins and Pies 119: ‘Fine sparra-gra-a-a-ss!’ added a perambulating costermonger.
1866		J. Greenwood Little Ragamuffin 60: Them that growed sparrow grass and sold it, ought to know how to spell it.
1874		Grantham Jrnl (Lincs.) 24 Dec. 8/3: There’s sparrow-grass in season.
1880		in M. Lewis Mining Frontier (1967) 97: A chiny dish trimmed with sparegrass [sic] an’ sallery.
1890		Dead Bird (Sydney) 17 May 1/3: My first is a little bird what ’ops; my second gives you good ’ay crops; my whole you eat with mutton chops. Answer: Sparrer-grass.
1899		A. Binstead Houndsditch Day by Day 138: ‘Go ’an put us on eight chops, vith fried pertaters, a couple o’ bundles o’ grass — ’ ‘A whatta, sare?’ ‘Grass [...] sparrer-grass.’.
1905		‘Central Connecticut Word-List’ in DN III:i 20: sparrow-grass, n. Asparagus.
1912		R.W. Brown ‘Word-List From Western Indiana’ in DN III:viii 590: sparrow-grass or spire grass, n. Asparagus.
1915		R. Lardner ‘Harmony’ in Coll. Short Stories (1941) 185: Lay off the sparrow-grass. It’s tougher’n a double-header in St. Louis.
1923		Frank Silver & Irving Cohn ‘Yes, We Have No Bananas’ 🎵 Someone asked for ‘sparrow grass’ and then the whole quartet / All answered ‘Yes, we have no bananas / We have-a no bananas today’.
1930		(con. 1915) ‘W.W. Windstaff’ ‘A Flier’s War’ in Longstreet Canvas Falcons (1970) 272: Some sparrow grass with apple sass.
1939		in R. Butterfield Sat. Eve. Post Treasury (1954) 14 Jan. 400: Turkey! Sparrowgrass! Plum pudding!
1953		in Randolph & Legman Ozark Folksongs and Folklore (1992) I 510: They wipe their ass on sparrow-grass, / Those scraggy sons-of-bitches.
2003		Brummagem Dict. 🌐 sparrow grass n. asparagus.