Culms slender, stiff, branched upwards. Terminal inflorescences unisexual, the ♂ with 1–4-spiculate racemes, the ♀ with 1-spiculate racemes (in both cases vestigial spikelets may also be present); spikelets usually with a fine bristle extending beyond the upper floret. Male spikelets: lower glume subulate; upper glume ovate or elliptic, one-third the length of the spikelet, 1–3-nerved; lower lemma coriaceous, 3–7-nerved; upper lemma chartaceous, 5–7-nerved; palea 2-nerved; stamens 3–6. Female spikelets: lower glume subulate; upper glume lanceolate to ovate-oblong, one-third the length of the spikelet, 5–7-nerved; lower lemma about as long as the spikelet, tightly convolute and enclosing the upper floret, rounded on the back, thick and rigid, many-nerved; upper lemma as long as the spikelet, thinly coriaceous, 7–11-nerved; palea usually 2-nerved. Axillary inflorescences ♀, few-spiculate, the spikelets long-peduncled, with the glumes narrower and thinner than in the other spikelets.
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