Perennial, rarely annual. Culms tufted, usually erect and unbranched. Leaf blades linear to narrowly lanceolate; ligule short, membranous, margin ciliolate. Inflorescence terminal, composed of several to many racemes inserted digitately or along a short axis; racemes elongate with many spikelet pairs, hairy, fragile, sessile and pedicelled spikelets of a pair similar, pedicelled often slightly narrower, both fertile; rachis internodes linear, ciliate along angles; pedicels resembling internodes, usually slightly shorter and more slender. Spikelets lanceolate to narrowly oblong, dorsally compressed; callus short, bearded, hairs usually less than 1/2 spikelet length; glumes cartilaginous to leathery; lower glume flat or slightly concave, hairy, back veinless or inconspicuously veined, flanks rounded in lower half, keeled toward apex, acute to truncate; upper glume boat-shaped, 1-keeled down midline; lower floret reduced to an empty hyaline lemma, rarely absent; upper lemma linear to oblong, occasionally broader, shortly 2-toothed or 2-lobed to middle, awned (E. manipurensis awnless); awn geniculate, sometimes weakly; palea small or absent. Stamens 3. x = 9, 10.

About 30 species: tropical and subtropical regions of the Old World; 14 species (five endemic) in China.

(Authors: Chen Shouliang (陈守良); Sylvia M. Phillips)