Taxonomic status:Accepted
Occurrence status:Present
Establishment means:Introduced
Long-rhizomatous perennials. Leaves convolute, sharp-pointed. Inflorescence a contracted panicle. Spikelets 1-flowered, strongly laterally compressed; glumes 2, subequal, equal to or exceeding lemma, persistent, the lower 1-nerved, the upper 1–3-nerved; lemma 5-nerved, papery, entire or shallowly notched at apex with a short, stout subterminal awn, glabrous except for callus hairs; palea papery, 2-nerved, about equal to lemma.
2 species from temperate Northern Hemisphere coasts; 1 naturalised in Australia.