Desmostachya is a genus of grass in the family Poaceae.

[3] The genus Desmostachya was originally published as Eragrostis sect.

Somehow two prominent botanists, Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817–1911) and Otto Stapf (1857–1933), were originally each credited separately as the naming authority for the taxon (the type specimen for this section of Eragrostis being Eragrostis cynosuroides (Retz.)

P.Beauv., itself based on a previous species taxon, Poa cynosuroides Retz.).

It is generally accepted that Eragrostis sect.