Linnaea 7: 290 (1832); Gen. Gram. 27 (1986).- Type-species: Stipagrostis capensis Nees (= s. obtusa).
DESCRIPTION
* Densely tufted perennials, sometimes annuals. Culms branched in the upper part.with a knotty rhizomatous base. Leaves generally basal, convolute, sometimes pungent; ligule a fringe of hairs.
* Inflorescence an open or contracted panicle. Spikelets all alike, fertile.
* Spikelets 1-flowered and bisexual, with a long pungent callus; racheole breaking above the glumes. Lemma cylindrical, convolute, indurated; awns with or without a column, deciduous and at least the central branch plumose.
The genus with about 50 species in the desert and semi-desert, in West and North Tropical Africa 14 species.