Plants annual. Culms 5–60 cm tall, often geniculate at the base, freely branched. Auricles to 0.5 mm long, sometimes absent; ligules1–2(3) mm long, obtuse to acute; blades 0.8–6 cm long, 1–5 mm wide. Panicles 1–4 cm long; lowest branches 8–12 mm long; pedicels 0.1–0.3 mm long, pubescent. Spikelets (4)5–9 mm long; lower glumes 3–5 mm long; upper glumes 5–7 mm long; sterile florets about 3 mm long, awn of the first floret 3.5–5 mm long, awn of the second floret 6–10 mm, exceeding the upper glumes by 2–3 mm; bisexual florets about 2 mm long; anthers 2, 2.8–4.1 mm long. 2n = 10, 20.
Anthoxanthum aristatum is native to Europe. It is not established but not common in North America, being found in mesic to dry, open, disturbed habitats of western and eastern part of the continent. All North American plants belong to Anthoxanthum aristatum Boiss. subsp. aristatum which differs from A. aristatum subsp. macranthum Valdés in having well-exserted awns and deeply bifid sterile lemmas.
Hitchcock (1951) stated that another annual species of Anthoxanthum, A. gracile Biv. is occasionally cultivated fro dry bouquets but it does not appear to be widely available at present. It differs from A. aristatum in having longer spikelets (10–12, not 4–9, mm long) and simple or sparingly branched culms.