Spikelets unisexual; staminate spikelets 2-flowered, in pairs on one side of a continuous rachis, one nearly sessile, the other pedicellate; glumes membranaceous, acute; pistillate spikelets sessile, in pairs, consisting of 1 fertile and 1 sterile floret, the latter sometimes developed as a second fertile floret; glumes broad, rounded or emarginate at apex; sterile lemma similar to the fertile, the palea present; style very long and slender, stigmatic along both sides well toward the base.