The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

bobtail barley, vernal barley

Habit Plants annual; loosely tufted.
Culms

5-40 cm, erect to geniculate;

nodes usually pubescent.

Sheaths

with stripes of hairs;

ligules 0.3-0.8 mm;

auricles usually absent, shorter than 2 mm if present;

blades to 9 cm long, to 4 mm wide, both surfaces sparsely to densely hairy, hairs spreading.

Spikes

2.5-6.2 cm long, 4-6 mm wide, often partially enclosed at maturity, pale green.

Glumes

straight, usually slightly divergent at maturity.

Central

spikelets: glumes to 17 mm long, to 0.8 mm wide basally, distinctly flattened near the base;

lemmas 4.5-7.5 mm, usually sparsely pubescent towards the base, glabrous distally, awned, awns 5.6-9.8 mm, often slightly divergent at maturity;

anthers 0.6-1.2 mm.

Lateral

spikelets usually sterile;

glumes to 17.5 mm, distinctly flattened near the base;

lemmas 1.7-4.4 mm, blunt to acute, usually unawned, rarely awned, awns to 1.2 mm.

2n

= 14.

Hordeum intercedens

Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Hordeum intercedens grows in vernal pools and flooded, often saline river beds and alkaline flats. It is restricted to southwestern California, including some of the coastal islands, and northwestern Baja California, Mexico.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 24, p. 242.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Triticeae > Hordeum
Sibling taxa
H. arizonicum, H. brachyantherum, H. bulbosum, H. depressum, H. jubatum, H. marinum, H. murinum, H. pusillum, H. secalinum, H. vulgare
Name authority Nevski
Web links