Several other genera were previously included in Danthonia. The distinctive features of this group is that the have ciliate ligules, the base of the fruit usually has a callus of stiff hairs (often spreading, and becoming conspicuous at the time of fruiting), and the body of the fruit often has tufts of hairs. Danthonia (in its strict sense) doesn't have awns, whereas the other genera do. Notodanthonia lack the tuft or row of hairs immediately above the base of the fruit. Rytidosperma species are mostly alpine species with distinctly small florets (lemmas only about 2mm long, with lobes less than 5mm long). Austrodanthonia is a large genus of native species.