Hordeum murinum ssp. leporinum (Link) Arcangeli   = H. leporinum   Poaceae (Grass Family   Europe                            Common Foxtail                                Foxtail Barley

                                       January Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Spreading annual; sheaths glabrous; blades pilose to glabrous, with well developed auricle; spike 5-9 cm. long, often partly closed by the inflated uppermost sheath; spike with 3-5 spikelets to each cm. of rachis; glumes of cent. spikelet lanceolate, 3-nerved, long-ciliate on both margins, the nerves scabrous, the awn 2-2.5 cm. long; stamens of central florets exserted at anthesis; lateral spikelets usually male, the glumes much shorter, unlike; lemma broad, 10-20 mm. long, the awn 2-4 cm. long; floret 1-1.2 cm. long, the awn 2-4 cm. long.

Habitat:  Weed in waste places, fields, etc. below 5000 ft.; cismontane and Death V., San Clemente Id., Santa Catalina Id., Santa Rosa Id.  April-June.

Name:  Latin, hordeum, barley. (Jaeger 120).  Latin, lepor, a hare and inum, like.  (Jaeger 126, 139).  Leporinum probably refers to the inflorescence being like a hare's foot or perhaps the hare's tail.  (John Johnson).

General:  Very common in the study area.  Photographed on the North Star Flats.  (my comments).      In Calif., H. leporinum, is the most abundant of the wild barleys.  As early as 1890, Hilgard described this plant as "a fearful nuisance" in central California.  As a group, the wild barleys are mechanically injurious grasses; the mature beards may bore into the skin, or the mucous membrane of the mouth, causing ulcers.  The seeds, which resemble a barley grain but are narrower and flatter, are scattered by water, by wind and carried by animals, to which they cling by reason of the barbed awns.  (Robbins et al. 82-83).     Hordeum species have been known to cause hay fever and asthma.  (Fuller 383).      About 25 species of temperate regions.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 976).

Text Ref:  Hickman, Ed. 1266; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 977; Robbins 83; Roberts 47.

Photo Ref:  Feb 83 # 36A.

Identity: by R. De Ruff.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 48.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 4/16/03.

                                           March Photo