Plants annual. Culms erect; nodes often pubescent. Sheaths glabrous; ligules 4-5 mm, obtuse or acute; blades 12-25 cm long, 7-12 mm wide. Panicles 15-30 cm, equilateral, sometimes slightly secund. Spikelets 15-24 mm, with 2-4 florets; disarticulation beneath each floret; disarticulation scars oval to round, those on the third (and sometimes the second) floret(s) heart-shaped. Glumes equal, 15-22 mm, 7-9(11)-veined; calluses bearded; lemmas about 21 mm, usually glabrous, sometimes pubescent beneath the awn insertion, irregularly bidenticulate to bisubulate, veins not extending beyond the apices, awns about 30 mm, arising at midlength; lodicules with a small side lobe; anthers about 2 mm. 2n = 42.

Avena hybrida is native to western and central Asia; it grows as a weed in Europe. It has been reported from Essex County, Massachusetts, and Prince Edward Island.