Perennial. Culms tufted, erect or geniculate at base, slender, up to 90 cm tall, 3–5-noded. Leaf sheaths glabrous or pilose; leaf blades linear, flat, 10–18 cm, 3–8 mm wide, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial surface pilose with scattered hairs; ligule ca. 2 mm. Raceme 10–15 cm, spikelets 3–6; pedicels 2–3(–5.5) mm. Spikelets 2.2–4 cm, florets 10–18, glumes lanceolate, glabrous, apex acuminate, lower glume 4–7 mm, usually 5-veined, upper glume 7–9 mm, 7-veined; lemmas 9–10 mm, smooth, glabrous, 7-veined, the veins prominent toward apex; awn 5–8 mm. Anthers ca. 4 mm. Fl. and fr. autumn.

Brachypodium sylvaticum var. wattii (Clarke) J. D. Hooker, from the Naga Hills in NE India, has pedicellate spikelets like B. pratense, but differs in its pubescent lemmas. Brachypodium pratense is probably also a local variant of the extremely polymorphic B. sylvaticum.

* Grasslands. W Sichuan, NW Yunnan (Lijiang).