in botany, a genus of the polygamia monocota clas. The involucrum is laciniated, and incloses two flowers; the calyx is a two-flowered gluma, one of the flowers being a male, and the other a female. The corolla of the hermaphrodite is a blunt gluma; the stamens are three; and the stylus is bifid; there is but one seed. The corolla of the male is likewise an obtuse gluma; and there are three stamens. The species are six, none of them natives of Britain.