Perennial of the Poaceae family, this grass is widespread in Western and Central Europe, from the Atlantic coasts to Eastern Europe, where it colonizes dry and mobile sands, coastal dunes, sandy heaths, and psammophilous grasslands. In France, it is characteristic of inland dunes and poor siliceous soils, from sea level to a few hundred meters in altitude.
It forms dense small hemispherical and radiant cushions, 15 to 30 cm in height, with fine, stiff, and prickly leaves, very tightly rolled on themselves. Their hue is a gray-blue to ashy gray-green in normal vegetation, while the base of the leaves often takes on reddish to deep pink-purple hues.
The spikelets, gathered in light and violaceous panicles, appear above the foliage in summer. Each awn is characteristic: twisted and swollen like a club at its end, a detail that inspired the generic name Corynephorus, from the Greek koryne, club.
In its natural habitat, its flowering extends from June to July.
In cultivation, it requires a sandy, very well-drained, poor, and dry soil, in full sun. It does not tolerate excess moisture or heavy soils. A pioneer plant of open environments, it is suitable for gravel gardens, dry rockeries, and natural character compositions on mineral substrate.