Cleistogenes

Cleistogenes

 

a genus of perennial plants of the family Gramineae. They have bisexual spikelets with one or several flowers clustered in panicles. There are about 15 species in the temperate zone of Eurasia and five or six species in the USSR. The most important species is C. squarrosa, growing on slopes in steppe regions and on the desert steppe in the southern part of the European USSR, the Caucasus, Siberia, and Middle Asia. Cattle eat great quantities of it. The plants of this genus were formerly assigned to the genus Diplachne.