Plants cespitose, lacking rhizomes.
Holcus lanatus grows in disturbed sites, moist waste places, lawns, and pastures in a wide range of edaphic conditions and at elevations from 0-2300 m. A native of Europe, it was widely distributed in North America by 1800. In Europe, it hybridizes with tetraploids of H. mollis to form a sterile triploid which spreads vegetatively.