Linnaea 16: 221 (1842); Gen. Gram.: 220 (1986).- Type-species: Coelachyrum brevifolium Hochst. & Nees.
Description:
* Annuals or perennials, usually stoloniferous. Leaves linear to lanceolate, flat; ligule membranous, sometimes with a ciliate fringe.
* Inflorescence variable, an open panicle or composed of several racemes on a central axis.
* Spikelets several-flowered, broadly elliptic to ovate, subsessile or pedicelled, disarticulating between the florets.Glumes 1-3-nnerved, rounded or slightly keeled, persistent. Lemmas 3-5-nrved, elliptic to ovate, rounded on the back, often deeply concave, usually thinly cartilaginous, sometimes mucronate. Caryopsis broadly elliptic to subrotund, rugose within a free pericarp.
Note: The genus of 7 species is a rather heterogenous assemblage of semi-desert grasses.