Crypsis

a genus of annual herbs of the family Gramineae. The stems are extended at the base, and the leaf blades are flat or longitudinally folded. The inflorescence is a spike-like panicle, surrounded by sheaths of the upper leaves. The single-flowered spikelets are bisexual and laterally compressed. There are ten to 15 species, distributed in the temperate and subtropical belts of Eurasia and in North and tropical Africa. The USSR has five species, growing in the southern and, less frequently, middle belt of the European portion, in the Caucasus, in the southern part of Western Siberia, and in Middle Asia. The plants grow in salt marsh meadows, in salt marshes, along sandy riverbanks, and amid pebbles. Sometimes they form a dense cover. The most common species are C. aculeata and C. schoenoides, which are eaten by geese, ducks, and other domesticated animals.