Culms 10-20 cm, erect. Blades glabrous or puberulent abaxially. Spikes 3-6 cm, exserted or partly included, with 3 spikelets per node. Spikelets in the central position usually with 2 fertile florets, the lateral spikelets usually with rudimentary to awnlike florets. Glume awns 15-50 mm, usually entire; lemma awns of the fertile florets 15-30 mm; paleas with or without distinct bristles.

Elymus elymoides subsp. hordeoides grows in dry, rocky, often shallow soils, particularly in Artemisia rigida-Poa secunda -communities, from eastern Washington and Idaho to northern California and Nevada. It resembles some Elymus-Hordeum -hybrids.