Culms and sheaths sometimes with glandular depressions. Spikelets 1.5-2.4 mm wide, ovate to oblong in outline. Lower glumes 1.2-2.3 mm; sum of spikelet width and lower glume length 2.7-4.7 mm.

Eragrostis mexicana subsp. mexicana grows from Ontario through the midwestern United States to California, South Carolina, and Texas and southwards to Mexico.