Annuals or perennials. Inflorescences of slender persistent racemes, usually arranged digitately, less often along a central axis. Spikelets 2-4(-6)-flowered, alternate in two rows, disarticulating above the glumes. Glumes unequal, membranous, 1-nerved, usually persistent. Lowermost floret fertile; fertile lemma cartilaginous, 3-nerved, laterally flattened, usually ciliate on the margins and keel, entire or 2-lobed at the apex with a subapical awn; 2nd to 6th florets sterile; lemmas vestigial, awned or awnless. Worldwide: c. 55 species in tropical and warm temperate regions of both hemispheres Malawi: 5 taxa. |
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