Annuals or perennials. Leaves: ligule membranous. Infl usually an open panicle. Spikelets 2-many-flowered, all alike, laterally flattened; glumes unequal, persistent, keeled; lower 1-7-nerved; upper 3-9-nerved; lemmas with 2-dentate apex, awned or mucronate from the sinus.