Isolepis antarctica (L.) Roem. & Schult.

Isolepis antarctica is an annual of about 80 to 200 mm tall, with numerous straw-coloured and dark red spikelets that consist of an indeterminate rachilla with many, spirally arranged glumes, with each glume subtending a bisexual flower. Its subtending glumes develop slowly and older glumes grow into a bonnet-like shape, protecting the fruit. It is widely distributed in damp flats and slopes up to 800 m altitude, from the Cape Peninsula to Langeberg Mountains in the Western Cape. It flowers between October to November.

Isolepis hystrix (Thunb.) Nees

Isolepis hystrix is a small, densely tufted, annual species about 20 to 100 mm tall, with green spikelets. It is usually found in damp flats, and sometimes at altitudes of about 1 600 m. It is widely distributed from Namaqualand to the Cape Peninsula. This species flowers between August and November.

Isolepis striata (Nees) Kunth

Isolepis striata extends from Namaqualand to Riviersonderend to Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape, growing in pools at lower altitudes. It is a branched aquatic perennial with green or reddish terminal spikelets and glumes from 3.5 to 4.5 mm long. There are three involucral bracts that are shorter than the spikelets. The species flowers between August and December.

Trianoptiles capensis Harv.

This grass-like annual reaches 250 mm high and many of the aerial inflorescences project beyond the leaves. The greenish aerial spikelets form lax clusters on branches that arise in the axils of leaves. Most of the bisexual spikelets have five bracts and the perianth scale terminates in three bristles. The ovary is not stalked but terminates into a beak at the tip. The smoothly ribbed fruit is divided into three fused parts, the cell outlines clearly visible. The basal fruit is often found away from the central axis of the plant, as it tends to drift by intercalary growth.

T. capensis has a range extending from Ceres to the Cape Peninsula to Knysna.

Trianoptiles solitaria (C.B. Clarke) Levyns ( Subterranean Cape sedge)

The ovary is 3-angular with an almost hairless beak-like tip. The fruit is about 2 mm long with a densely pitted surface.
The basal spikelet has an extensive sheathing bract around the style. The fruits ripen in the axils of the leaves close to the stems, unlike T. capensis where some intercalary growth occurs and the fruits ripen away from the main axis of the plant. This gives a superficial resemblance to the genus of fern Isoetes.

See more below.

Trianoptiles stipitata Levyns

Reaching 20 cm in height, this species resembles T. capensis in its growth form, although the reproductive stuctures differ slightly. It also differs from T. capensis in that its perianth scales are larger, hairier on the outer surface, and also with a tuft of hairs on the inner surface below the bristles.  It has a stalked ovary, and no cell outlines are visible at the intersections of the faces.

The species has scattered collections from the Calvinia District, Vanrhynsdorp, the Cape Peninsula and Bain's Kloof, although these seem to be localised population.

Ficinia gydomontana T.H.Arnold

F. gydomontana is endemic to the Gydoberg Mountains to the east of Ceres and the neighbouring Hottentotskloof. It occurs in mountain fynbos on summits and plateaus, sometimes in rocky areas and also in marshy patches. It is a tussocky perennial growing to 400 mm tall with brownish leaf sheaths; a terminal, dark brown inflorescence and whitish glume margins. Leaf blades and leafy bracts are absent.

Ficinia dunensis Levyns

F. dunensis is endemic to the Western Cape where it is widely distributed, occuring in sand dunes or loose sand. Plants grow up to 200 mm high, possess horizontal stems and have leaves and aerial stems in small tufts. The horizontal stems are covered with dark brown scales when young and with age they become naked and wiry. The leaves are usually half as long as the flowering stems; the leaf sheaths are firm and deep red with the apex squared at the end. Leaf blades are thread-like. One to three spikelets occur in a compact terminal head that is enclosed by two sheathing bracts with wide, dark red-brown bases and leafy tips. The gynophore disc is well developed and lobed. Flowers are produced between August and October.

Ficinia esterhuyseniae Muasya

F. esterhuyseniae grows in moist rock crevices in sheltered overhanging rocks in the Western Cape from Swellendam to Clanwilliam at higher altitudes. It is a small, slender plant, growing in tufts with brownish leaf sheaths and leaves that are longer than the culms. The spikelets are cylindrical in shape.

The species is named after Miss Elsie Esterhuysen, a well-known plant collector who collected large amounts of material of Ficinia that is of much use to those attempting to understand the genus. Few other botanists have collected the species, perhaps because of its minute size and specialized habitat. The species is uncommon and if it were not for Elsie Esterhuysen's collections, it would have been poorly collected. Little is known about population size or distribution.

Ficinia quinquangularis Boeck.

This species possesses densely tufted stems with a head of 1-4 chestnut-red spikelets. The upper sheaths are lance-shaped and leafless, whereas some of the lower sheaths bear leaves. It is known from rocky outcrops in mountain fynbos where it occurs from Swellendam east to the Outeniqua Mountains and also further east in the Tsitsikamma Mountains near Humansdorp.