Clinelymus sibiricus (Linnaeus) Nevski; C. yubaridakensis Honda; Elymus sibiricus var. brachstachys Keng; E. sibiricus var. gracilis L. B. Cai; E. sibiricus var. erectiusculus L. B. Cai; E. yubaridakensis (Honda) Ohwi; Hordeum sibiricum (Linnaeus) Schenck (1907), not Link ex Steudel (1840), nor Roshevitz (1929); Triticum arktasianum F. Hermann.

Culms usually erect, sometimes slightly decumbent at base, 60–90 cm tall. Leaf sheath glabrous; leaf blade flat, 10–15 × 0.5–1 cm, glabrous or adaxial surface slightly pubescent. Spike pendulous, lax, 15–20 cm; rachis margin scabrous, ciliolate. Spikelets glaucous or purplish glaucous, usually 2 per node, with (3 or)4 or 5 florets. Glumes narrowly lanceolate, 4–5 mm, 3–5-veined, glabrous, scabrous along veins, apex acuminate or with awn ca. 4 mm. Lemma lanceolate, 5-veined, obscurely so at base, scabrous or puberulent; first lemma 8–11 mm; awn 15–20 mm. Palea equaling lemma, ciliolate along keels, puberulent between keels. Fl. and fr. Jun–Aug. 2n = 28*, 42*.

Forest glades, scrub, swales, sands and pebbles in river valleys; 1500–4900 m. Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan [India, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Nepal, Russia].