[3] In late spring the plant produces rigid flower spikes consisting of three to six spikelets bearing long, stiff awns which assist in seed distribution.

When the grass matures, the spikelets fall off in their entirety to germinate on the ground,[2] and the long awns which give the plant its name assist in dispersal by animals, wind or water.

[2] A recently developed method of assessing greenness in aerial color infrared (CIR) imagery using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values to differentiate between these invasive weedy grasses and other more innocuous species may help land managers with early detection.

[8] Barbed goatgrass matures in late spring after most other annual grasses have already senesced, and this method utilizes these differences in phenology to easily identify patches that require management.

It allows the grass to be cut before maturing and developing seeds to reproduce, but it is not as effective as the other methods as the deep and established root system of the barbed goatgrass is still in place and can grow again.

Barbed goatgrass cross breeds with different types of wheat, causing the grain to become infertile and unusable for harvest, which hurts the economy of the rural California areas.

[11] Its rapid growth and resiliency against control methods prove that barbed goatgrass is an invasive species that could cause many more problems to the agriculture of California and possibly many other areas if it is not taken care of soon.