Chrosophora

a genus of plants of the family Euphorbiaceae. The plants are mostly annual herbs. There are ten to 12 species, occurring mainly in desert regions of the eastern hemisphere. The USSR has four or five species, each noted for the more or less marked pubescence of stellate hairs. The species C. arenaria and C. gracilis, which grow in the deserts of Middle Asia, are good feed for sheep and goats. C. tinctoria, characteristic of Mediterranean countries, grows in the USSR in the Crimea, the Caucasus, and, to a much lesser extent, in Middle Asia. The plant contains a dye that is red in an acid medium and darkblue in alkaline; the dye is used for coloring various products, in perfumery, for making dark-blue wrapping paper for sugarloaves, and as a bluing for white linens.