Mediterranean Barley-grass

Family: Grass (Poaceae syn. Gramineae)

Scientific Name:

Hordeum hystrix (syn. Critesion hystrix)

Mediterranean Barley-grass - flower spikes
Photo: A J Brown

Status:

Native to southern and eastern Europe. Naturalised in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, New Zealand and USA.

Plant Description:

Tufted annual grass to 50 cm tall with erect to spreading, stems covered with loose hairs (0.5-1 mm long) in the lower parts and with velvety-hairy, flat, leaves 4-15 cm long and 1.5-4 mm wide; ligule membranous, 0.5 mm long.

Inflorescence, a compact, much bristled, semi-flattened spike, 1.5-5 cm long, containing spikelets in groups of three. Each spikelet is composed of a single, central and awned floret and two bristles. A number of species have a similar inflorescence appearance (see notes on spikelet differences).

Habitat:

A colonizer of disturbed low-lying situations associated with pasture plants. Widespread in saline areas on seasonally wet sites.

Region	Salinity Class	Waterlogging Class
Mallee, Loddon Murray, Central and Northern, Wimmera, Western, Gippsland	S1, S2, S3	W1, W2, W3

Comments:

Similar to the saline land coloniser, Sea Barley-grass (H. marinum) and the non-saline land colonizer, Barley-grass (H. murinum)

Mediterranean Barley-grass Photos

Mediterranena Barley-grass - flower spikes Photo: A J Brown	Mediterranean Barley-grass - stems Photo: A J Brown
Mediterranean Barley-grass - flower spike Photo: A J Brown

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