Diastemenanthe Steudel; Ophiurinella Desvaux.

Annuals or perennials, stoloniferous. Leaf blades linear to narrowly lanceolate; ligule ciliate. Inflorescence of very short racemes bearing a few sessile spikelets; racemes arranged singly and sunk in pockets on one or both sides of a foliaceous or corky axis, variously disarticulating at maturity, raceme rachis ending in a point. Spikelets ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate; glumes both short or the upper equal to spikelet, membranous; lower floret staminate or neuter, lemma as long as the spikelet, usually coriaceous, rarely papery, smooth, acute; upper lemma slightly shorter than lower lemma, papery, rarely coriaceous, margins flat. x = 9.

Seven species: tropics and subtropics, mostly on seashores or near the coast from the Indian Ocean to SE Asia and the Pacific Ocean, one species pantropical; three species (one introduced) in China.

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