Ceratocarpus Explained

Ceratocarpus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Amaranthaceae. It has only one currently accepted species, Ceratocarpus arenarius, found in Bulgaria, Romania, Crimea, Russia, Anatolia, the Caucasus, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asia, the Altai, western Siberia, Xinjiang in China, and Mongolia.^[1] A bushy herbaceous plant, no more than 30 cm tall (or wide), it is a valuable fodder for sheep, goats and horses, and it grows well in degraded and trampled soils.^[2]

Species

Only one species is currently accepted, Ceratocarpus arenarius, but a number of names have been previously associated with Ceratocarpus:^[3]

• Ceratocarpus arenarius subsp. utriculosus (Bluket ex Krylov) Takht.
• Ceratocarpus caput-medusae Bluket
• Ceratocarpus maritimus Pall. ex M.Bieb.
• Ceratocarpus salinus Pall.
• Ceratocarpus turkestanicus Sav.-Rycz.
• Ceratocarpus utriculosus Bluket ex Krylov

Notes and References

1. Web site: Ceratocarpus L. . . 2017 . Plants of the World Online . Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . 5 August 2020 .
2. Book: 9781402085420 . The Socio-Economic Causes and Consequences of Desertification in Central Asia . Behnke . Roy . 19 August 2008 . Springer .
3. Web site: Ceratocarpus . . theplantlist.org . The Plant List . 5 August 2020 .