Urochloa P.Beauv.

Annuals or perennials. Leaf-blades linear to lanceolate; ligule represented by a line of hairs. Inflorescence composed of racemes borne upon a short common axis; rhachis ± triquetrous, rarely ribbon-like, bearing single or paired spikelets, their lower glume abaxial. Spikelets lanceolate or ovate, plano-convex, cuspidate to acuminate; lower glume mostly shorter than the spikelet; upper glume as long as the spikelet, usually membranous; lower floret ♂ or sterile, its lemma resembling the upper glume, the palea almost as long and usually hyaline; upper lemma coriaceous usually much shorter than the spikelet, obtusely rounded at the tip and mucronate, its margins inrolled and covering only the edges of the palea; upper palea obtuse. Caryopsis broadly elliptic to subrotund, strongly flattened.