Description: Dioecious perennials with long creeping rhizomes.
Leaves strongly distichous; ligule a ciliate rim fringed with hairs; blade almost pungent-pointed.
Inflorescence usually contracted, spicate or paniculate, occasionally reduced. Spikelets several-flowered, disarticulating above the glumes and between the lemmas, the female spikelets disarticulating tardily. Glumes 3–7-nerved. Lemmas 7–11-nerved. Palea margins not enclosing caryopsis, the keels narrowly winged. Male spikelets similar but of somewhat thinner texture. Grows in saline habitats.
Distribution and occurrence: World c. 5 species, America & Australia. Australia: 1 species (native).
Text by S. W. L. Jacobs & K. L. McClay Taxon concept:
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