Ess. Agrost. 111, t. 11, f. 6 (1812); Gram. Afr. trop. 1: 292(1962); Gen. Gram.: 353 (1986).- Type species Arthraxon ciliaris P. Beauvois (= A. hispidus (Thunb.) Makino).
Description:
* Annual or perennial herb, often trailing and decumbent. Leaves linear-lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate, cordate or amplexicaul, often pectinate-ciliate on the margins; ligule a fimbriate membrane.
* Inflorescence spicate, usually subdigitate or racemes solitary, the uppermost leaf spatheole-like. Racemes slender, terminal or axillary; internodes filiform. Pedicels free from the rhachis
* Sessile spikelets linear to narrowly lanceolate, asymmetrical in side view. Glumes awnless, membranous scabrulous to muricate or spinulose. Lower lemma sterile without a palea; upper lemma ovate-lanceolate, hyaline, entire, awned dorsally from well down the back; awn geniculate, glabrous; palea present or absent. Pedicelled spikelets variable, male or sterile, reduced or totally suppressed.
Genus of the Old World with about 10 species.