Perennial grass with creeping rhizomes, some of which may be long. Culms with several bent nodes. Starts flowering in early June. Forms loose tussocks. Widespread on heathland and moorland, especially in chalk-free soils. It favours woodland conditions and often survives on compacted soils after woods have been cleared. It is also found in lightly shaded woods, roadsides and poor grassland, and in upland areas. It is used as an indicator plant for low pH levels. On farmland creeping soft grass is easily controlled e.g. by applying lime. Since cattle show little interest in creeping soft grass, it is considered to have little value and has a feed value of 3. It commonly provides sheep grazing on poor, acid heathland. If it spreads from there into permanent pastures, it can easily be controlled through fertilisation and intensive grazing.
| Leaf | Leaf rolled in the bud, leaf sheath open. Leaf blade open, approx. 8 mm wide, upper surface lightly ribbed and greyish green in colour. Leaf sheath and blade with light covering of hairs. Ligule moderately long and toothed. Auricles absent. |
| Culm | Culm usually geniculately ascending. Often slightly bent at each node. Up to 50 cm tall. Some leaves produce side shoots in the axes. Culm nodes have hairs which stick out. |
| Inflorescence | Panicle approx. 10 cm long, only a few side branches on the lower nodes. Panicle unfurls only during flowering. After flowering the inflorescence is more like a false spike. Spikelets have flowers arranged in pairs, usually reddish to yellowish brown. The lower flower is hermaphrodite and the upper one male. The glumes have pointed tips and the upper lemma has an awn arising from the back. |
| Fruit | Lanceolate grain and sterile husk case with long, bent awn, encased by paired glumes. The caryopsis is encased by a soft, straw-coloured lemma. Palea papery. Pedicel approx. 0.5 mm long. TSW 0.3–0.4 g. |