Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

LITTLE BARLEY

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Hordeum pusillum Nutt.

Riley County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 4-16 inches

Family: Poaceae - Grass Family

Flowering Period: May, June

Culms:

Erect or bent abruptly upward at bases, solitary or tufted, glabrous, nodes dark.

Blades:

Flat, .5 to 4.5 inches long, less than 1/5 inch wide, erect, glabrous or slightly pubescent, ridged above.

Sheaths:

Shorter than internodes, glabrous or pubescent.

Ligules:

Short, membranous, irregularly notched to short-fringed.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, spike-like, narrow, erect, 1.5 to 3 inches long, to 3/5 inch wide, sometimes partially enclosed in uppermost sheaths.

Spikelets:

3 per node; central spikelets 1-flowered, fertile, sessile; lateral spikelets smaller, sterile, short-stalked; central spikelet glumes lanceolate; outer glumes of lateral spikelets awn-like, other glumes with awns 1/4 to 1/2 inch long; lemma of central spikelet with awn to 1/4 inch long; lemmas of lateral spikelets short-awned.

Habitat:

Open disturbed areas and waste ground, most abundant on dry or alkaline soils.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Forage Value:

Little barley has little forage value. It becomes dry and unpalatable in June.

Comments:

The presence of little barley in a pasture can be an indication of overgrazing.

Little barley inflorescence