Plants perennial (rarely annual); erect and cespitose, or decumbent and mat-forming. Culms 5-60 cm; nodes glabrous. Leaves mostly basal; ligules membranous and ciliate or of hairs; blades often stiff, convolute. Inflorescences terminal, panicles with a solitary (rarely 2), slender, spikelike branch; rachises curved or falcate, semi-circular or crescentic in cross section. Spikelets solitary, with 1(2) florets, terete to dorsally compressed; florets bisexual; disarticulation above the glumes. Glumes subequal, exceeding the florets, 1-veined; lower glumes asymmetric, keeled, keels somewhat twisted; upper glumes symmetric, flat, midveins straight; lemmas membranous or hyaline, 3-veined, veins hairy; paleas with 2 pubescent keels. Caryopses 0.9-1.5 mm, glabrous. x = 10, 12. Name from the Greek, micros, small, and chloë, grass.

Microchloa includes three African and one pan-tropical species. The species usually grow in open mesic to xeric habitats in tropical regions, often in shallow, hard soils. One species has become established in the Flora region.

The distinctive shape of the rachis links Microchloa to Ctenium.

1.   Microchloa kunthii Desv.
Kunth's Smallgrass

Plants perennial; forming small, dense tufts. Culms 5-30 cm. Sheaths generally shorter than the internodes; ligules 1-1.5 mm, ciliate; blades 1-1.5 mm wide, flat or folded, with thick, scabrous, white margins; cauline blades 1-2.5 cm; innovation blades to 6 cm. Panicle branches 6-15 cm; rachises ciliate. Spikelets 2.5-3.5 mm; lemmas 2-2.5 mm, keels pilose, margins densely pilose, hairs 0.2-1 mm. 2n = 24, 40.

Microchloa kunthii grows on granitic outcrops on rocky slopes. Its range extends southward from Carr Canyon, Huachuca Mountains, Arizona and the Big Bend region of Texas through Mexico to Guatemala.