Echinopsilon

a genus of plants of the family Chenopodiaceae. The plants are annual drooping herbs with linear or semicylindrical leaves. The bisexual or pistillate flowers are solitary in the leaf axils or panicled. The perianth is composed of five segments with protuberances. There are ten species, distributed in temperate and subtropical belts of Eurasia and North Africa. Four species occur in the USSR—in the southern European portion, the Caucasus, Middle Asia, and Southern Siberia. E. sedoides, which grows in steppes and deserts, is used as pasturage for sheep and camels. The genus Echinopsilon is frequently combined with the genus Bassia.