3. Hordeum vulgare L. (barley)

Pl. 187 g–i; Map 760

Plants annual. Flowering stems 50–120 cm long. Leaf sheaths usually glabrous, often glaucous. Leaf blades 5–30 cm long, the broadest leaves 5–18 mm wide, glabrous or hairy, with a pair of conspicuous auricles to 6 mm long at the base. Inflorescences 6–10 cm long (excluding the awns), erect, the inflorescence axis not shattering at maturity (spikelets not readily disarticulating until threshed for harvest). Spikelet clusters with the spikelets usually all fertile. Glumes with the body 6.5–20.0 mm long, flattened and linear elliptic, the tip either broadened into a small, flattened, 3‑lobed appendage or more commonly tapered into a relatively stout, straight, erect or ascending awn 3–20 mm long. Lemma of the fertile florets with the body 6.5–12.0 mm long, elliptic, shiny, the tip either broadened into a small, 3‑lobed appendage or more commonly tapered into a relatively stout, straight, erect or ascending awn 30–150 mm long. Anthers 2.0–2.5 mm long. Fruits 5–8 mm long. 2n=14, 28. April–June.

Introduced, uncommon in various parts of the state (cultigen of Asian origin, now cultivated nearly worldwide, mostly in temperate regions; escaped sporadically in the U.S.). Pastures, roadsides, railroads, and open, disturbed areas.