Briza is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of annual

Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...

 grasses in the family Poaceae

Poaceae

The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...

, native to north temperate

Temperate

In geography, temperate or tepid latitudes of the globe lie between the tropics and the polar circles. The changes in these regions between summer and winter are generally relatively moderate, rather than extreme hot or cold...

 regions. The group is generally referred to as the quaking grasses because the flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

 and seedheads shake on their stalks in the slightest breeze. Some of its members are grown as ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

s.

Briza species are used as food plants by the larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 species including Coleophora lixella

Coleophora

Coleophora is a very large genus of moths of the family Coleophoridae. It contains some 1,350 described species. The genus is represented on all continents, but the majority are found in the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions...

.

The genus includes about 12 species; species in widespread cultivation include:

• Briza maxima
  Briza maxima
  Briza maxima is a species of the genus Briza, as such it is an annual grass in the family Poaceae. It is native to Northern Africa, the Azores, Western Asia and Southern Europe and is cultivated or naturalised in the British Isles, Australasia, the west of the United States, Central and South...
  
  – Great Quaking Grass
• Briza media
  Briza media
  Briza media is a perennial grass in the family Poaceae and is a species of the genus Briza.Common name includes Quaking-grass, Cow-quake, Didder, Dithering-grass, Dodder-grass, Doddering Dillies, Doddle-grass, Earthquakes, Jiggle-joggles, Jockey-grass, Lady's-hair, Maidenhair-grass, Pearl Grass,...
  
  – Common Quaking Grass
• Briza minor
  Briza minor
  Briza minor is a species of grass known by the common namesLesser quaking-grass or little quakinggrass. It is native to the Mediterranean Basin, and it is known elsewhere, including much of North America, as an introduced species. It is an annual grass producing narrow clumps of erect stems up to...
  
  – Lesser Quaking Grass

Synonyms

(A name with a * means that it is probably a synonym)

• *Brizochloa V. Jirásek & Chrtek,
• Calosteca Desv.,
• Calotheca P. Beauv., orth. var.,
• Chascolytrum Desv.,
• Chondrachyrum Nees,
• *Lombardochloa Roseng. & B. R. Arill.,
• Macrobriza (Tzvelev) Tzvelev,
• Tremularia Heist. ex Fabr.