Little barley (Hordeum pusillum)
Little barley is an annual, cool-season native grass found in grasslands, disturbed areas and roadsides throughout the U.S.
The plant is a small bunchgrass that is often considered a “weedy” species that increases in overgrazed pastures.
- Easily distinguished from other cool season grasses by the seed head that forms a 1-to-2 inch spike
- Has relatives in Argentina and Uruguay
- Is a close kin to the domesticated barley
- Produces very tiny seeds that can be found in the mature, spike-like seed head that were used for food by pre-Columbian Native Americans
Little barley is of very little value to domestic livestock or wildlife species and can become a problem for hay producers because it reduces the quality of forage.
Little barley can be controlled by a timely application of herbicide.
Editor’s note: Kent Ferguson, retired rangeland management specialist from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), is providing us with plant identification photo stories to help ranchers identify those forbs, forages and species growing in the pastures. Additional photos provided by USDA NRCS.
Little Barley is excerpted from the March 2016 issue of The Cattleman magazine.