Culms 35-90 cm. Basal sheaths glabrous; blades flat or almost flat, abaxial surfaces nearly always glabrous, adaxial surfaces scabridulous, not densely hairy above the ligules, occasionally sparsely hairy. Spikes with 1 spikelet at most nodes, 2-3 central nodes with 2 spikelets. 2n = unknown.

Leymus salina subsp. mojavensis grows at scattered locations on steep, north-facing slopes of the New York, Providence, and Clark mountains in California, and of the south rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.