Coleataenia is a grass genus in the Paniceae tribe of the Poaceae. Until recently this genus was part of Panicum. In 2010, Zuloaga, Scataglini, & Morrone proposed the transfer of the Panicum sections Agrostoidea and Tenera to the new genus, Sorengia. However, that same year, because one of the new species' synonyms was in the valid Coleataenia genus, Robert J. Soreng determined that Sorengia was not a valid name for the new genus and re-published it as Coleataenia.