Cynosurus

a genus of annual and perennial herbs of the grass family. The inflorescence is a one-sided spicate panicle. The spikelets are in pairs on shortened branches, and one of them has two to five bisexual flowers. The other has no flowers and consists of narrow glumes. There are four or five species, found in Europe, Western Asia, North and South Africa. (There are three species in the USSR.) The most common variety is the crested dogstail (C. cristatus), a perennial fodder grass that grows in meadows, the edges of forests, and clearings nearly everywhere in the European part of the USSR and in the Caucasus. Cattle like to feed on it, but it is inferior to many other grasses in yield. It is well-suited to lawns.