Herbs, perennial or annual. Rhizomes short or absent; stolons usually present. Culms tufted or single. Leaves bladeless; sheath apiculate or rarely with a scarious appendage at apex. Inflorescences reduced to a single terminal spikelet, erect, rarely proliferous (bearing plantlets) at base, with few to many bisexual flowers. Glumes spirally imbricate or rarely distichous, oblong, oblong-ovate, lanceolate, or subrounded, firm or membranous, glabrous, usually with a midvein although sometimes indistinct but with lateral veins, margin usually hyaline; basal 1 or 2 glumes usually empty. Perianth bristles (3-)6(-12) or rarely absent, retrorsely spinulose. Stamens 1-3. Style thin; stigmas 2 or 3. Nutlet obovoid, broadly obovoid, or globose-obovoid, 3-sided, biconvex, or plano-convex, smooth, reticulate, cancellate, or rarely pitted; persistent style base expanded, triangular, conic, or variously shaped, sometimes spongy-thickened.

About 250 species: worldwide; 35 species (nine endemic) in China.

(Authors: Dai Lunkai (戴伦凯); Mark T. Strong)