Crypsis (genus)

Crypsis is an African and Eurasian plant in the grass family sometimes referred to as pricklegrass.[3][4][5][6]

pricklegrass
Crypsis alopecuroides[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Poaceae
Subfamily:	Chloridoideae
Genus:	Crypsis Ait.
Type species
Crypsis aculeata (L.) Ait.
Synonyms[2]
Pallasia Scop. 1777, rejected name not L.f. 1782 nor L'Hér. ex Aiton 1789 nor Klotzsch 1853 Antitragus Gaertn. Raddia Mazziari 1834, illegitimate homonym not Bertol. 1819 nor DC. 1824 Ceytosis Munro Torgesia Bornm.

These are annual grasses with short leaves. A few species are invasive weeds outside their native ranges.[7][8][9]

Species[2][10][11]

• Crypsis aculeata - from Portugal and Mauritania to Korea
• Crypsis acuminata - from Turkey to Kazakhstan
• Crypsis alopecuroides - from Portugal and Morocco to Korea; introduced in western North America (British Columbia + western USA)
• Crypsis factorovskyi - Caucasus, Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan
• Crypsis hadjikyriakou - Cyprus
• Crypsis minuartioides - Sharon Plain in northwestern Israel
• Crypsis schoenoides - from Britain to China + Pakistan + Mozambique; introduced in North America (western USA, Great Lakes region, Baja California)
• Crypsis turkestanica - Central Asia, Caucasus, western Siberia, southern European Russia
• Crypsis vaginiflora - Africa; Middle East, India, Pakistan; introduced in North America (Idaho, Oregon, California, Baja California)

formerly included[2]

see Muhlenbergia Munroa Phleum Rhizocephalus Sporobolus Urochondra

• Crypsis arenaria - Phleum arenarium
• Crypsis dura - Urochondra setulosa
• Crypsis juncea - Sporobolus junceus
• Crypsis macroura - Muhlenbergia macroura
• Crypsis maritima - Sporobolus virginicus
• Crypsis myosurus - Sporobolus spicatus
• Crypsis phleoides - Muhlenbergia angustata
• Crypsis pygmaea - Rhizocephalus orientalis
• Crypsis setifolia - Muhlenbergia macroura
• Crypsis setulosa - Urochondra setulosa
• Crypsis squarrosa - Munroa squarrosa
• Crypsis stricta - Muhlenbergia angustata
• Crypsis virginica - Sporobolus virginicus

References

1. 1950 illustration from Hitchcock, A.S. 1950. Manual of the grasses of the United States. USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 200. Washington, DC
2. Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
3. Aiton, William. 1789. Hortus Kewensis, or, A catalogue of the plants cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew 1: 48 in Latin
4. Tropicos, Crypsis Aiton
5. Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 485 隐花草属 yin hua cao shu Crypsis Aiton, Hort. Kew. 1: 48. 1789.
6. Altervista Flora Italiana, genere Crypsis Archived 2015-03-23 at the Wayback Machine
7. Jepson Manual Treatment
8. USDA Plants Profile
9. Hammel, B. E. & J. R. Reeder. 1979. The genus Crypsis (Gramineae) in the United States. Systematic Botany 4(4): 267–280
10. The Plant List search for Crypsis
11. Biota of North America Program 2013 county distribution maps