Dactyloctenium
(from daktylos, a finger, and ktenion, a little comb; alluding to the digitate and pectinate spikes). ORD. Gramineae. A genus of several species, for the most part natives of Africa. Spikelets several-flowered, with the uppermost flower imperfect, crowded on one side of a flattened rachis, forming dense pectinate spikes two to five in number, digitate at the summit of the culm; glumes compressed, keeled, and sub-herbaceous, the exterior one cupsidate. The species are mostly annuals, little known to cultivation.