Annuals or perennials. Leaf-blades flat, linear to narrowly lanceolate; ligule membranous. Inflorescence a loose cylindrical raceme-like panicle upon a slender peduncle, borne in the axils of the upper leaves; rhachis slender, angular, the spikelets shortly pedicellate and borne singly. Spikelets lanceolate, dorsally compressed; glumes reduced to small (0.1–0.6 mm.) rotund scales; lower floret represented by an awned (rarely awnless) lemma as long as the spikelet; upper lemma membranous, a little shorter than the spikelet, its thin margins almost meeting at the back, enclosing a narrow palea half as long as the lemma. Caryopsis oblong, dorsally compressed.
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