Tuft perennial with mostly basal leaves; culms erect or geniculately ascending, up to 80 cm high. Leaf-blades 3-15 cm long, 2-4 mm wide. Inflorescence composed of 5-15 subdigitate racemes; racemes 4-6 cm long, shortly pedunculate, the peduncles glabrous. Sessile spikelet oblong-lanceolate, 3.5-5 mm long; lower glume chartaceous, hairy below the middle, not glossy, without a pit, acute; awn 12-15 mm long. Pedicelled spikelet glabrous on the back, without a pit.

Fl. & Fr. Per.: May-October.

Type locality: southern Europe.

Distribution: Pakistan (Sind, Baluchistan, Punjab, N.W.F.P., Gilgit & Kashmir); southern Europe and North Africa eastwards to the Northwest Himalayas and Tibet.

Bothriochloa ischaemum is known to introgress with Bothriochloa bladhii (DeWet & Harlan in Am, J. Bot. 53:94-98. 1966) and the hybrid often resembles the Southeast Asian var. songorica.