Annual to 1.5 m or so tall. Leaves hairless, rough. Leaf blade flat, to 25 cm long, 1 cm wide. Ligule 1-2 mm long. Inflorescence a dense spike 5-15 cm long, usually nodding when mature. Spikelets 1-2.5 cm long with 2 opposite fertile florets; Aug.-Sept. Glumes keeled, 1-nerved. Lemma lanceolate, sharply ridged, tapering to the 2-5 cm long rough awn. Palea as long as lemma.

Unknown in the wild

Occasionally persisting on sites where grain is handled.

A cultigen, probably derived from S. montanum (which grows in montane south-western Asia) and cultivated for green fodder and grain but being superseded to some extent by the intergeneric hybrid called ×Triticale (×Triticosecale) which is a hexaploid cross S. cereale × Triticum aestivum.

Source: Spencer, R.; Aldous, D.; Stajsic, V.; McGeary, D (2005). Poaceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 5. Flowering plants. Monocotyledons. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.