It has a circumpolar distribution and is native to many subantarctic islands in, and the coasts bordering, the Southern Ocean.

[1] Agrostis magellanica is a tufted perennial grass, varying in height from 50 to 450 mm and forming short grassland communities.

The panicles are 20–120 mm long, with many shiny, greenish-purple, distinctly awned spikelets.

It is also native to Macquarie Island and the Falkland, Kerguelen, Crozet and Prince Edward Islands, as well as southern South America in Tierra del Fuego.

In New Zealand it occupies subalpine and alpine habitats on stony or rocky ground.