Annuals, small. Leaf blades rolled. Inflorescence an open or contracted panicle. Spikelets small, laterally compressed, florets 2, both alike, bisexual, separated by very short internode, disarticulating below each floret; rachilla not extended beyond upper floret; glumes persistent, equal, enclosing florets, ovate, membranous, shining, 1(–3)-veined, apex acute; floret callus small, usually shortly bearded laterally, rarely glabrous; lemmas ovate, rounded on back, membranous becoming firm at maturity, indistinctly 5-veined, glabrous, upper part scaberulous to scabrid, awned from lower back or lower floret awnless, apex 2-toothed; awn geniculate with twisted column; palea slightly shorter than lemma. Anthers small. Caryopsis fusiform. 2n = 14, 28.

Eight species: centered on the Mediterranean region, extending northward to Scandinavia and eastward to Iran and Afghanistan; introduced in other temperate regions; one species in China.

(Authors: Wu Zhenlan (吴珍兰); Sylvia M. Phillips)