Description: Stoloniferous or tufted perennials.
Leaves with ligule narrow, membranous; blade folded in bud.
Inflorescence digitate or subdigitate; spikes 1–many, slender, sessile; spikelets closely appressed.
Spikelets solitary, dorsally compressed, alternate in 2 rows on 1 side of the triquetrous rachis, falling entire from their rudimentary pedicels, the back of the fertile lemma abaxial; florets 2, the lower sterile, the upper bisexual. Glume 1, equalling the spikelet, oblong-elliptic, 2–4-nerved, lower glume absent. Lower lemma similar to the upper glume, glabrous or sparsely silky near the margins, the midnerve often suppressed, without a palea; upper lemma hardened, obtuse, glabrous, nerveless, with inrolled margins tightly embracing the palea. Palea equal to its lemma. Lodicules 2, minute, broad-cuneate. Stamens 3.
Distribution and occurrence: World: c. 35 species, America. Australia: 2 species (naturalized), Qld, N.S.W., W.A.
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs & C. A. Wall
Taxon concept:
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Leaves usually 2–4 (rarely 6) mm wide, margins glabrous; nodes glabrous; spikelets 1.6–2.1 mm long, usually obtuse, upper lemma reaching the tip of the spikelet | Axonopus fissifolius |
| Leaves 4–10 mm wide, usually with tubercle-based hairs along the margins; nodes usually hairy; spikelets 2.2–2.5 mm long, acute; upper lemma 80% the length of the spikelet | Axonopus compressus |
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