Perennial herbs with short woody rhizome. Stems tufted, erect, terete, trigonous or triquetrous. Leaves basal or also cauline, setaceous, subulate or flat, sheaths long, those of the cauline leaves often tubular, dark; ligule sometimes present. Inflorescence paniculate, narrow. Bracts leafy, not sheathing, or with tubular sheaths. Spikelets several to many, solitary or in clusters, oblong-lanceolate, more or less compressed, 2(-3)-flowered. Rachilla very short, straight, not produced beyond the upper flower. Glumes 4-12 (usually 5-7), distichous or subdistichous, the lower ones (usually 4-6) empty, small, the upper ones flower-bearing. Flowers usually 2, close together, the lower male or functionally male (gynaeceum abortive), the upper bisexual. Hypogynous bristles (0-)2-9(-14), delicate, sometimes shortly plumose. Stamens 3,4, 6, or 8; anthers linear, with distinctly produced connective, often auricled at the base (ears without pollen). Style slender, continuous with the ovary, dilated at the base, with 3, 4, 6, or 8 stigmas; Style-base persistent on the nut. Nut usually trigonous, ovoid-oblong or obovoid, with a (sometimes conspicuous) sterile apex (the persistent style-base).
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Infl. a short narrow panicle. Spikelets us. 2-fld, the upper fl. hermaphrodite, the lower male. Glumes distichous, the lower 3 or more empty, the next 2 floriferous, us. followed by an empty, or very small upper glume. Hypog. bristles 0 in N.Z., elsewhere 0 or various. Stamens 3, 4, (6 or 8). Style continuous with nut, dilated and scabrous at the base; style-branches 3 or 4. Nut turgid-trigonous, rarely tetragonous, crowned by the persistent style-base. Perennial herbs. Rhizome short and woody. Culms tufted, lfy at base or a few lvs cauline. A genus of c. 40 spp. mainly S. African, but 4 spp. are Australian. The N.Z. sp. occurs also in Australia.
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