Agriophyllum

Annuals, usually with tumble-weed habit, covered with dendroid hairs (Fig. 38) and sometimes with simple hairs. Leaves sessile or petiolate with linear to orbicular blades, acuminate, soft at earlier stages then usually turning hard and stout, persistent. Inflorescences short, capituliform; each flower with a stout bract, ebracteolate, mostly bisexual. Perianth of 1–5 free hyaline segments. Stamens 1–5. Fruits glabrous or pubescent with easily caducous dendroid hairs. Pericarp leathery, thin and ruptured in the medium fruit portion. The lower part of stylodia persistent and hardened, often with lateral horn-like outgrowths. Seeds ovoid, lenticular, yellow or brownish, sometimes with dark tanniniferous spots. Embryo vertical, horseshoe-shaped; perisperm copious. Eight species (including a new species described below) distributed in Irano-Turanian region (7 spp.) and Tibet (1 sp.).

Agriophyllum is a genus of flowering plants of the family Amaranthaceae, native to arid regions of Asia with a few occurrences in Eastern Europe. Reaching at most 1 m, they are valuable as fodder and for wind‑blown soil capture.

In Kazakhstan, it is known as "kumarshyk". Scientists from the Atyrau Region patented a drink combining kumarshyk with camel's milk that's undergone lactic acid fermentation. In 2021, author Murat Bektenov, who is from the Ryn Desert region, published a book named after the plant. The book outlines how kumarshyk was used for sustenance by Kazakhs during times of war and famine. Like wheat, kumarshyk seeds can be roasted, milled, baked, or even made into porridge.