Culms 15-25(60) cm. Panicles to 10 cm, usually with more than 1 spikelet. Lemmas (7)8-11 mm, pubescent, margins rounded; awns less than 0.1 mm wide at the base, often divaricate or recurved at maturity. Caryopses shorter than the paleas.

Bromus hordeaceus subsp. molliformis grows in California and other scattered locations, including Idaho, New Mexico, and southern Michigan.