Plants perennial; not rhizomatous. Culms 40-190 cm, erect; nodes 2-4, usually pubescent; internodes usually pubescent. Sheaths with long, stiff, retrorse hairs, at least on the lower portion, midrib of the culm leaves not abruptly narrowed just below the collar; auricles present; ligules 2-3.5 mm, glabrous or sparsely pilose, rounded to truncate, erose; blades 10-60 cm long, 6-15 mm wide, flat, drooping, glabrous or sparsely hairy. Panicles 15-40 cm long, open, lax, drooping; branches spreading or drooping. Spikelets 20-40 mm, elliptic to lanceolate, terete to moderately laterally compressed, with 3-10 florets. Glumes glabrous, scabridulous over the veins; lower glumes 5-8 mm, 1-veined; upper glumes 8-11 mm, 3-veined, mucronate; lemmas 10-14 mm, lanceolate, rounded over the midvein, margins and at least the lower 1/2 of the back pubescent, apices acute, entire or emarginate, lobes shorter than 1 mm; awns 4-7 mm, straight, arising less than 1.5 mm below the lemma apices; anthers 2.5-4 mm. 2n = 14, 28, 42.

Bromus ramosus is native to Asia, Europe, and northern Africa. It is included here based on Pavlick-s (1995) statement that it is found sporadically in the southern and eastern United States; specimens to substantiate his statement have not been located.