Tristachya Nees

Perennials, rarely annuals, erect. Leaf-blades linear, usually flat, not crinkled on the margin; ligule a ciliate fringe. Inflorescence a panicle, open or contracted (triads subsessile in T. thollonii),the spikelets ternate (paired in T. hubbardiana) and often with the pedicels connate thus mimicking a single spikelet. Spikelets large, brown to straw-coloured, disarticulating beneath each floret, the lower floret ♂; glumes typically lanceolate, chartaceous to coriaceous, 3-nerved, ± persistent, the upper as long as the spikelet, the lower usually shorter; lower lemma 5-nerved, similar to the upper glume but usually a little shorter; upper lemma oblong-elliptic, thinly coriaceous, usually pubescent, 5–9-nerved, bilobed, sometimes the lobes aristulate and rarely with a tuft of hairs at their base, with a deciduous (except T. bicrinita) geniculate awn from the sinus; callus conical, pungent, pubescent; palea-keels usually with thickened nerves, wingless; stamens 3. Caryopsis linear, the hilum linear.