Annuals or perennials. Inflorescence a panicle with elongated central axis; primary branches bearing short racemes. Rhachis internodes and pedicels slender. Spikelets of each pair markedly different; the sessile spikelet fertile, the pedicellate spikelet (mostly in ours) reduced to a barren pedicel.
Sessile spikelet: lower glume coriaceous, keeled at apex; upper glume broadly convex; upper lemma awned. Worldwide: 17 species occurring in Africa and tropical and warm America Caprivi: 1 cultivated taxon. |