Relatives
Hordeum jubatum L. - Foxtail barley.
Taxonomical position.
Family Poaceae Benth. Genera Hordeum L.Morphology and biology.
Biennial or perennial plant. Forms tussocks. Stalks reach heights of 20-50 (60) cm, upright, rising, bare and smooth. Leaves 2-3.5 (5) mm wide, flat, bright or grayish green, bare, rough or, less often, with velvety pubescence, sometimes with scattered longer hairs. Spikes 8-15 cm long, light green or reddish, very fragile. Spiklets form in groups of three, on average having one fertile flower and a rudiment of the second flower; lateral spikelets are underdeveloped. Spikelet scales together with awn are 4-8 cm in length, very thin, resembling capilliform arista. Bottom flower scales reach 4-6 mm in length, bare, with strongly deflexed (especially after flowering) capilliform awns 2.5-9 cm in length. Flowering occurs in June-September. Anemophilous. Chromosome number: 2n=28 (14, 42).Distribution.
Occurs throughout North America, the Far East, and Yakutia. Has spread to Central Europe, the European part of the former USSR, the Caucasus, Western and Eastern Siberia, and Central Asia.Ecology.
Occurs in valley meadows and puddles. Occurs as a weed along roads and in rubbish heaps.Use and economic value.
Has no economic value or uses.Literature cited:
Grossgeim A.A. 1939. Flora of Caucasus. Vol. 2. Polypodiaceae - Gramineae. Baku: Publishing house AzFaN. 587 pages.Hulten E., Fries M. 1986. Atlas of Northern European Vascular Plants North of the Tropic of Cancer. Vol. 1-3. Konigstein. 1172 p.
Kharkevich S.S., ed. 1985. Vascular Plants of the Soviet Far East. Leningrad: Nauka. Vol. 1. 398 pages.
Malyshev, L.I. & G.A. Peshkova, eds. 1990. Flora of Siberia. Vol. 2. Poaceae (Gramineae.) - Novosibirsk: Nauka, 361 pages.
Tzvelev N.N. 1976. Grasses of the USSR. Leningrad: Science, 788 pages.