[2][3] Most of the species are native to Africa, with a few from Southeast Asia and from various islands in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans.

The genus is also found in Australia, southern Asia, the Mediterranean, and North America.

[4][5][6][7] Common names for this genus include veldtgrass.

[8][9][10] This genus was named for the German botanist Jakob Friedrich Ehrhart, 1742–1795.

[2][11] [1][12] [1] Several species now considered better suited to other genera: Brylkinia Leersia Melinis Microlaena Sporobolus Tristachya Zotovia