Syst. Veg. 2: 46 (1817); Gen. Gram.: 346 (1986).- Type-species: Thelepogon elegans Roem. & Schult.
* Coarse annuals, erect or ascending. Leaves glaucous, lanceolate with an amplexicaule base; ligule membranous.
* Inflorescence terminal, a digitate or subdigital cluster of shortly pedunculate, subcylindrical racemes with clavate internodes, inflated upwards. Pedicels flattened, strap-shaped, lacking a spikelet.
* Sessile spikelet dorsally compressed, the short rounded callus inserted into the internode tip. Lower glume crustaceous, broadly convex, ornamented, not keeled or winged; upper glume saccate at the base. Lower floret male, well developed with a palea; upper lemma bifid with a geniculate awn arising from the sinus. Pedicelled spikelet reduced, represented by a flattened linear pedicel.
Genre monotypic genus of Africa and tropical Asia.