Plants annual. Culms 2–30(40) cm. Sheaths of the flag leaves not inflated; auricles not developed, leaf edges often wrinkled at the junction of the sheath and blade; ligules 4–7 mm, acute; blades 1.5–12 cm long, 1–4 mm wide, sometimes convolute. Panicles 0.8–11 cm long, 2–7 mm wide, narrowly cylindrical, parallel-sided. Glumes 2–4 mm, semi-elliptical in outline, keels usually glabrous, apices of the lower and upper glumes pointing towards each other; lemmas about 2/3 as long as the glumes, glabrous, midveins scabridulous; anthers 1.5–2 mm. 2n = 14.
Phleum subulatum is native to the grasslands of southern Europe. In the Flora region, it is known only from old ballast dump records.