Spikelets numerous in a terminal inflorescence with a foliaceous winged involute rhachis and one or few in axillary inflorescences enclosed in the upper leaf-sheaths. Terminal inflorescence. Spikelets unisexual, mostly in tight clusters of three on a short unequally winged secondary axis facing the primary axis, the clusters sessile, closely imbricate, alternate on the thickened midrib of the rhachis and more or less enveloped by its wings, falling entire on maturity. Spikelets slightly laterally compressed, awnless, the lowest of each cluster ♀, sessile, lanceolate, acute, the following ♂, much smaller, very shortly pedicelled, linear-lanceolate to narrowly oblong, acute. Female spikelet. Glumes short, unequal; lower minute, subulate, rigid, nerveless; upper narrowly boat-shaped, keeled, obliquely linear-lanceolate in side view, ovate-oblong when flattened, acute, about one-third the length of the spikelet, firmly membranous, ciliolate, with 2 or 3 lateral nerves anastomosing upwards on each side of the keel-nerve. Lower floret barren and reduced to the valve, embracing the upper: valve lanceolate, acuminate, slightly oblique in side view, as long as the spikelet, deeply longitudinally grooved on the back, coriaceous, with about 7 lateral nerves, of which those near the groove are somewhat prominent and with transverse rugosities between them. Upper floret hermaphrodite, similar in outline and size to the lower: valve obtusely keeled on the back below the acumen, with tightly incurved margins, elliptic and produced into a narrow blunt tip when flattened, thinly chartaceous, finely 11-nerved with the nerves anastomosing upwards; valvule similar to the valve in texture and length, lanceolate and acuminate when flattened, longitudinally grooved, about 8-nerved with 2 stronger nerves flanking the groove. Lodicules obovate, very thin, hyaline. Stamens 6, minute, rudimentary. Style terminal, with two hairy stigmatic branches exserted from the apex of the floret. Grain linear in outline, laterally compressed, grooved on the ventral face, free between the valve and valvule; hilum basal; embryo small. Male spikelets. Glumes similar to those of the female spikelet, but smaller and the upper thinner, 1-nerved. Lower floret reduced to the valve which is dorsally more or less flattened with narrow incurved margins, chartaceous and with 2 submarginal nerves stronger than the median nerve. Upper floret hermaphrodite: valve ovate-oblong, acute, keeled, thinly chartaceous, finely 5-nerved; valvule similar to the valve in texture and length, 2-nerved with a shallow groove between the nerves. Lodicules minute. Stamens 6; filaments thin; anthers (?). Pistil quite rudimentary with the primordia of 2 styles. Axillary inflorescences on very slender peduncles from the upper 1 or 2 leaf-sheaths. Spikelets much larger than those of the terminal inflorescence, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, the terminal subsessile at the base of a short flattened rachis, the following (if present) distant and sessile. Lower glume setiform, very slender and rigid; upper glume slightly longer than the lower, nearly half the length of the spikelet, lanceolate-oblong and subacute, 7-nerved. Lower floret barren and reduced to the valve, the latter linear-lanceolate, acuminate, as long as the spikelet, flattened on the back towards the base, coriaceous, prominently many-nerved. Upper floret hermaphrodite: valve somewhat similar to that of the lower floret. —Perennial with slender geniculate culms; leaf-blades sagittate, subsessile; ligule reduced to a ciliolate rim; terminal inflorescence secund, narrow, erect; rhachis folded over the sides of the clusters to form a spathe-like covering, produced beyond the uppermost spikelet; clusters short, compact.