Plants annual; tufted, salt tolerant. Culms 2-45 cm, erect to prostrate, sometimes branched above the base; nodes glabrous, generally purple; internodeshollow. Leaves not basally aggregated; sheaths not keeled; auricles sometimes present; ligules 0.3-2.3 mm, membranous, truncate; blades 0.3-3.5 mm wide, linear, flat to convolute. Inflorescences terminal and auxillary, spikes, often curved, with solitary spikelets sunk into the rachis; disarticulation in the rachis below each spikelet. Spikelets tangential to the rachis, cylindric, straight to strongly curved, with 1 floret; rachillas sometimes prolonged beyond the distal floret. Glumes 2, subequal, lying side-by-side, usually exceeding or only slightly shorter than the floret and covering the rachis cavities, sometimes asymmetric and winged, coriaceous, with conspicuous veins, margins translucent, apices unawned; lemmas 3.5-5.5 mm, membranous, translucent, glabrous, rounded on the back, 1-3-veined, unawned; paleas more or less equal to the lemmas, translucent; anthers 3; styles 2, free to the bases, white; lodicules ovate-acute. Caryopses 3-3.6 mm, narrowly ovoid to ellipsoid. x = 7, 9, 19. Name from the Greek para, beside, and pholis, scale, referring to the two side-by-side glumes.
Parapholis is a genus of six species that grow in coastal habitats and salt marshes. Its native range extends from western Europe to India. Two species are established in the Flora region.