Plants not cespitose, rhizomatous, green or slightly glaucous. Culms 60–122 cm tall, 2–3.5 mm thick, sparsely to densely pubescent below the spike. Leaves exceeded by the spikes; auricles to 1 mm; ligules 0.4–1.2 mm; blades to 9 mm wide, veins promimently ribbed, subequal, closely spaced. Spikes7–32 cm long, 7–11 mm wide, sometimes glaucous, often purplish or green with traces of purple, with 1–2 spikelets per node; internodes 8–12 mm, surfaces hairy distally, hairs 0.1–0.3 mm, edges ciliate, hairs to 1 mm, coarser than the surficial hairs. Spikelets 15–20 mm, with 2–6 florets. Glumes 9–28 mm long, 1.5–4 mm wide, lanceolate, glabrous towards the base, pubescent distally, midveins glabrous or with hairs to about 1.3 mm, stiff, keeled or flat proximally, keeled distally, the central portion thicker than the margins, 3(5)-veined at midlength, tapering from below midlength to an awn, awns to 4 mm; lemmas 8–10 mm, usually completely glabrous, margins and apices sometimes pubescent, apices tapering to an awn, awns to 4 mm; anthers 3.3–7.3 mm, indehiscent. 2n = 28, 42.
Leymus ×vancouverensis grows at scattered locations on beaches along the Pacific coast, from southern British Columbia to California. It is a sterile hybrid, probably between L. mollis and L. triticoides (Bowden 1957). The northern populations are outside the current range of L. triticoides.