''Ceratocarpus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family
Amaranthaceae
Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...
. 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.
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.
Species
Only one species is currently accepted, ''Ceratocarpus arenarius'', but a number of names have been previously associated with ''Ceratocarpus'':
*''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
References
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q3321144, from2=Q15226496
Chenopodioideae
Monotypic Caryophyllales genera
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus