Aristida

Annuals or perennials. Spikelets 1-flowered, disarticulating above the glumes, in terminal, lax or contracted, panicles; glumes persistent, narrow, usually 1-nerved. Lemma narrow, with hard callus at base, with or without a beak or twisted column; articulation present or 0, usually visible as a transverse darker line on the body of the lemma, occurring at the apex of the lemma or at the apex of the column; awns 3 (1 central, 2 lateral) or rarely 1, glabrous.