Saxipoa

Tufted perennials. Leaves mostly basal, glabrous; sheath slightly keeled, margins shortly fused near the base; blade folded or nearly flat, rather thick-textured, apex slightly hooded; auricles absent; ligule firmly membranous, irregular at apex. Inflorescence a contracted, more or less linear panicle, few-flowered. Spikelets plump, 2–4-flowered, slightly laterally compressed, breaking up above the glumes and between the florets; glumes subequal, ovate, firmly membranous, margins ciliate in the lower half; lower glume 1–3-nerved; upper glume 3(or 5)-nerved; lemmas papery, closely imbricate, 5–7-nerved, surfaces smooth, somewhat glossy, margins ciliate for most of their length, apex acute, keeled, sometimes the dorsal nerve developed into a short subapical mucro (but not exceeding the lemma apex); palea ovate, slightly shorter than the lemma, keels densely ciliate.