Culms (3)10-70 cm. Panicles (3)5-10 cm, usually with more than 1 spikelet. Lemmas (7)8-11 mm, usually pilose or pubescent, margins bluntly angled; awns more than 0.1 mm wide at the base, straight, erect. Caryopses shorter than the paleas.

Bromus hordeaceus subsp. hordeaceus grows throughout the range of the species, being most prevalent in southwestern British Columbia, the western United States, and the northeastern coast.