Plants annual or perennial. Culms 15-120 cm. Sheaths open; auricles absent; ligules membranous; blades flat. Inflorescences solitary, distichous spikes; disarticulation in the rachis, immediately above the spikelets. Spikelets laterally compressed, sessile, tangential, more or less appressed to the rachis, with 3-11 florets; rachillas glabrous, prolonged beyond the base of the distal fertile floret, terminating in a reduced floret. Glumes 2, unequal, from shorter than to about as long as the spikelets, unawned; calluses blunt, glabrous; lower glumes 3(5)-veined; upper glumes 5-7(11)-veined; lemmas coriaceous, obscurely 7-9-veined, unawned or awned near the apices; paleas shorter than the lemmas; lodicules 2, free, membranous, glabrous, toothed; anthers 3; ovaries pubescent. Caryopses with a terminal tuft of hairs; hila round. x = 7.
Discussion
Gaudinia is a weedy genus of four species that are native to the Mediterranean, the Azores, and the Canary Islands. Its inflorescence is reminiscent of some Triticeae; it differs from members of that tribe in its manner of disarticulation and in having compound starch grains in its endosperm. One species has become established in North America.