Plants with caudices. Culms more or less erect, usually glabrous, sometimes sparsely pubescent or puberulent. Basal blades large, usually 8-14 cm long, 7-22 mm wide. Cauline blades 3.5-8 times as long as wide, 6-25 mm wide, thin, ovate-lanceolate, green, sometimes glaucous, bases almost symmetrical. Spikelets 2.6-2.9 mm. Lower glumes about 1/4 as long as the spikelets; lower lemmas rounded apically.
Dichanthelium commutatum subsp. commutatum grows in wet to dry woodlands. Its range extends to South America.