Plants cespitose, shortly rhizomatous. Culms 5-35 cm, densely and finely pubescent throughout. Basal sheaths remaining intact; ligules 0.5-2.5 mm; basal blades 2-20 cm long, 1-3 mm wide, involute, stiff, margins not ciliate, adaxial surfaces pubescent. Panicles 1-4(5) cm long, 0.7-1.5 cm wide, somewhat interrupted at the base; branches villous. Spikelets 4-6.5 mm, with 2-3 florets; rachillas pubescent. Glumes membranous, purple, scabrous, ciliate on the keels and the upper margins; lower glumes 2.5-3.5 mm long, about 0.5 mm wide, lanceolate, narrow, apices acute or awn-tipped to about 0.6 mm; upper glumes 3-4.8 mm long, 0.8-0.9 mm wide, ovate; calluses pubescent; lemmas 4-5 mm, slightly longer than the glumes, pubescent to densely tomentose, purple to almost black, apices acute or awn-tipped to about 1.4 mm; paleas equaling or slightly shorter than the lemmas; anthers 1.2-2.5 mm. 2n = 28.

Koeleria asiatica grows on gravel bars of creeks, dry tundra, and scree slopes. Its range extends from the Ural Mountains through the Kamchatka Peninsula to northern Alaska and northwestern Canada.