LITTLE BARLEY
File Size: 140 KB
 
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
71 KB
Riley County, Kansas
Little barley
114 KB
Riley County, Kansas
Little barley
150 KB
Riley County, Kansas
Little barley
150 KB
Riley County, Kansas