Culms erect or decumbent, solid. Leaf blades strikingly distichous. Panicle branches single or whorled, persistent on axis, branchlets often subtended by a linear bract. Female spikelet: lemma inflated, shell- or urn-shaped, closed except for a tiny pore through which the 3 stigmas and palea apex protrude, prominently 5–9-ribbed, greatly enlarging after fertilization, coloring white, pink or purple; palea free or adnate to margins of lemma. Male spikelet: lemma conduplicate with free margins, 5–9-veined.

Four to six species: Old World tropics; one species in China.