in botany: A genus of the trigynia order, belonging to the triandria clas of plants; and, in the natural method, ranking under the 4th order, Graminae. The characters are: The calyx is a four-valved glume equally cleft to the base: The corolla is a two-valved glume: The stamens consist of three short slender filaments; the anthers oblong and erect: The pistillum has an oblong germen; the style are two; and the stigma are clavate and hairy: There is no pericarpium, except a clofed calyx: The seed is oblong and furrowed. There is only one species of this genus, the ciliata or fringed anthistiria, a native of India.