Cope, T.A. (1995) Poaceae in Flora of Somalia 4: 148-270
Plants rhizomatous and stoloniferous mat-forming perennials; stems up to 30 cm long, branching only at the base. Leaves with overlapping sheaths and distichous, stiff, pungent blades; ligules formed of a line of hairs. Inflorescences elliptic to globose, formed of densely packed, short, crowded racemes. Spikelets with several florets, sligtly laterally compressed; lemmas scarious, rounded on the back, veins silky villous, tips 2-toothed, mucronate. Grains ellipsoid; pericarp free.
In 2012, Peterson and Romaschenko reduced Odyssea to a genus of only one species, Odyssea paucinervis by transferring Odyssea mucronata to a new genus, Zaqiqah. Both genera are known only from Africa and the Arabian peninsula.