Hordeum brachyantherum occurs broadly in North America and in western Russia on the Kamchatka Peninsula. Chief habitats include wet meadows, riparian zones, forest clearings grasslands or roadsides.

With a common name of Meadow barley, this perennial tufted grass achieves a height of up to one meter. The species occcurs in diploid and tetrapoid forms.

Meadow barley has shown utility in vegetative restoration for denuded areas, since it grows rapidly and tolerates marginal soils such as those high in salinity. It is also valuable in providing cover for small wildlife species. In the early growth phase it is a moderately good food source for ungulates, but in the later season that value subsides.

Meadow barley is a native, short to medium lived, cool season, perennial bunchgrass. This species occurs primarily from Alaska to California and east to the Rocky Mountains. It can also be found sporadically in other states. Growth habit is an open tuft with erect to slightly spreading, smooth stalks (culms) that are 40 to 105 cm tall. The flower head (panicle) is a narrow, flattened spike, 5 to 10 cm long with bristle-like awns and a brittle central axis (rachis) that breaks off in pieces from the top down at maturity. Leaves are green to bluish green, 2 to 9 mm wide. They may be primarily basal or extend up and down the stem.

Key to identification: The flower heads are bristly and often purplish in color, becoming stubby at maturity which distinguishes it from timothy (Phleum pretense), meadow foxtail (Alopecuris pratensis), or other grasses with narrow spikes. It resembles common barley (Hordeum vulgare) which is an annual usually confined to cultivated areas. Meadow barley is upright, while its closest relative, California barley, is shorter and more spreading.

Relative abundance in the wild: Meadow barley is common to sporadic in moist meadows and clearings. It is most abundant in maritime environments. Seed shatters (drops) readily requiring careful monitoring of maturity and multiple collections.

Adaptation: Meadow barley is moderately drought tolerant but best adapted to moist soils, including bottom lands, depressions, meadows, the edges of streams and salt marshes, forest clearings, and ocean beaches from sea level to subalpine elevations. It is tolerant to moderately alkaline and saline conditions, as well as low fertility, seasonally saturated soils, and intermittent flooding. Soil texture can vary from coarse sand to clay. This species prefers full sun. This species can produce a seed crop the first year if sown in late fall or early spring. This is among the more broadly adapted and easier to establish of all native grasses in the western US.

There are two subspecies: H. brachyantherum ssp. brachyantherum and ssp. californicum, the latter referred to as California barley. Another name is little barley. This species can hybridize with certain Hordeum and Elymus (wildrye) species.

Hordeum brachyantherum Nevski:
Canada (North America)
Mexico (Mesoamerica)
United States (North America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blad e differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, Inflorescence spikelets arranged in a terminal bilateral spike, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets 3 per node, Spikelets distichously arranged, Spikelets bisexual, Inflorescence disarticulating between nodes or joints of rachis, rachis fragmenting, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Spikelets falling with parts of disarticulating rachis or pedicel, Spikelets closely appressed or embedded in concave portions of axis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts , Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glumes awn-like, elongated or subulate, Glumes awned, awn 1-5 mm or longer, Glumes 1 nerved, Glumes 3 nerved, Lemma coriaceous, firmer or thicker in texture than the glumes, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma mucronate, very shortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn less than 1 cm long, Lemma awned from tip, Lemma awn from sinus of bifid apex, Lemma awns straight or curved to base, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear, Caryopsis hairy at apex.

There is usually no seed dormancy and meadow barley is easy to establish by sowing in the fall or early spring. The awns and nonviable florets (flower structures) attached to each spikelet should be removed to reduce bulk and allow for seed to flow through planting equipment. The number of seeds per pound can vary widely, depending on the degree of seed conditioning. Bulky seed can range from 30,000 to 100,000 seeds/lb, while highly processed seed will have approximately 150,000 seeds/lb (+/- 30%). The latter will result in 3 to 4 seeds per square foot for each lb applied per acre. Suggested seeding rates vary from 8 to 40 lbs/ac when sown alone, depending on seed size, methods, site conditions, and purpose of planting.

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.


No available public DNA sequences.

Download FASTA File

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 2
Specimens with Barcodes: 2
Species With Barcodes: 1

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N5 - Secure

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N4 - Apparently Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s current status (e.g. threatened or endangered species, state noxious status, and wetland indicator values).

Multiple sources of seed are readily available in California, as are several in Oregon. A limited number of seed sources from other regions are also available for use in certain western states.

Awns on the spikelets readily attach to hair and skin. Apparently they can harm certain animals by working into noses, mouths, or intestines. Others indicate little injury to livestock or deer that graze the foliage. Certain meadow barley populations are susceptible to fungal diseases, particularly head smut and leaf or stem rust. Fungicides may be needed for control. Consult with your local Extension Service agent, plant disease control handbook, or other experts for advice. The species has potential to be weedy under certain conditions and is listed as a weed in cotton.

Meadow barley can be an increaser or decreaser under heavy grazing, depending on the palatability of other plants present. Forage value is moderately good early on but poor at maturity. Livestock are likely to cause soil compaction on moist sites with fine textured soils where this species often thrives. Short-lived especially under drier conditions, regeneration may rely on a period of deferred grazing during flowering and seed set every few years. The species is easily eliminated by close mowing early in the growing season. It stays green all summer if moisture is present and is capable of producing a second flush of seed heads later in summer. Tolerance to prescribed burning is high. Specific management practices apply to cover crop use, particularly in vineyards. Under cultivation for seed, several harvests may be required to capture seed that matures unevenly and shatters easily.

Because of its high seedling vigor, wide soil tolerances, and rapid development, meadow barley is often used as a quick cover for soil stabilization on wet, dry, and saline sites. It is sometimes used for forage where locally abundant, but resource value may be rated low to moderate for livestock. The value for deer is considered high in spring. Palatability for ungulates is moderately good early on but poor at maturity. Sown at lower rates to allow other species to establish, meadow barley is an important component of freshwater wetland, tidal marsh, meadow, and riparian seed mixtures for restoration and revegetation. In certain trials, meadow barley has shown higher potential to impede the progress of reed canarygrass compared to several other native wetland grasses. It is regarded useful as a temporary nurse crop for longer lived species on dry, infertile sites. The species is occasionally used as a vineyard cover crop in California. Plants provide wildlife cover and the leaves and large seed may be of some value to small mammals and waterfowl.