Plants perennial, tufted. Culms (15)40-80(100) cm tall, about 2 mm in diameter, ascending or geniculate; nodes (2)3-5(6), densely pubescent. Leaves: sheaths glabrous or those of lower leaves sometimes hairy; ligules 0.2-0.6 mm long, membranous; auricles lacking; blades 6-15(18) cm long, 2-8(10) mm wide, stiff, glaucous, green to geenish violet or dark violet, both surfaces scabrous or upper surfaces pilose. Inflorescences (2)3.5-10 cm long, (3)5-7 mm wide; rachises tough or upper nodes fragile, margins slightly scabrous. Central spikelets sessile; glumes (4)5-10(11) mm long, setaceous; floret (4.3)5-7.5 mm long, lanceolate, scabrous to densely short hairy all over or only distally; awn (4)5.3-11(13) mm long. Lateral spikelets: pedicellate, staminate or bisexual and seed-setting; glumes (4)5-10(11) mm long, setaceous, occasionally somewhat flattened at the base;lemmas 5-7 mm long, shortly hairy; awns 4-9 mm long.
Hordeum bogdanii usually grows from 1000-3800 m in wet places, such as the shores of lakes, streams and ponds, and in meadow but also on limestone cliffs. In a few locations it grows as a weed.
The range of Hordeum bogdanii extends from Central Asia through Russia and Mongolia to western China.
Sources:
Bothmer, Roland von, Niels Jacobsen, Claus Baden, Rikke B. Jørgensen and Ib. Linde-Laursen. (1995). An ecogeographical study of the genus Hordeum. In:Systematic and ecogeographical studies on crop genepools. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome, Italy.
Chen, Shouliang and Guanghua Zhu. (2006). Hordeum in Flora of China. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=115751.
Cope, T.A. Cope.(1982. Poaceae. In: E. Nasir and S.I. Ali,Flora of Pakistan 143: 1-678.