Perennial grass-like herbs, tufted, or stoloniferous or rhizomatous, or cushion-forming. Stems glabrous, terete, erect, often with 1-2 cauline leaves. Leaves flat or channelled, almost glabrous to densely villous along margin, sheaths without auricles. Inflorescence a terminal cyme, congested to a single head, or much-branched, branches unequal with flowers clustered at tips; subtending bracts leaf-like. Flowers hermaphrodite; bracts and bractlets silver or light brown, membranous, ovate, margins ± lacerate, ± villous. Tepals 6, usually equal in length, with or without membranous margins. Stamens 3, or 6. Ovary 1-locular. Seeds 3, with a white basal caruncle (tail). A cosmopolitan genus of c.80 spp., mainly in extra-tropical regions; in the tropics at high altitudes only. Native spp.12, adventive 4.

Infl. a terminal cyme, congested to a single head, or much-branched, branchlets unequal in length with fls clustered at their tips; subtending bracts lf-like. Fls hermaphrodite, each enclosed at the base by 2 papery bractlets and subtended by a scarious bract; bracts and bractlets silver or light brown, membr., ovate, with ± lacerate, ± villous margins. Stamens 3, or 6. Ovary 1-locular. Seeds 3, with a white basal tail (caruncle), testa minutely striated in a reticulate pattern. Perennial grasslike herbs, tufted or stoloniferous, or cushion-forming. Stems glab., terete, erect, often with 1–2 cauline lvs. Lvs flat or channelled, almost glab., to densely villous along the margin, basal sheath without auricles. A cosmopolitan genus of c. 80 spp. mainly in extra-tropical regions; in the tropics at high altitudes only. 10 N.Z. spp. are endemic while L. traversii is recorded also from Mexico and South America. Luzula DC. nom. cons.: type sp., L. campestris (L.) DC.