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Montana Field Guide

Montana Field Guides

Mouse Barley - Hordeum murinum
Other Names:  Wall Barley, False Barley, Hodeum leporinum

Non-native Species
Not Documented

Global Rank: GNR
State Rank: SNA
C-value: 1


Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:


 

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General Description
Annuals, 3-80(-100) cm tall. Culmst solitary or weakly tufted, frequently genuiculate at some nodes. Leaf sheaths usually glabrous, slender auricles often present; ligule ca 1 mm; blades flat or folded, 2010 mm wide, glabrous or short-hairy. Spikes erect, 2-12 cm long, ca. 3 cm wide at midlength (including awns), the central axis (rachis) readily disarticulating. Spikelets 3 per node, the lateral ones sometimes longer than the central one, central spikelet sessile or borne on a pedicel to ca. 2 mm long, the lateral (sterile) ones on pedicels 1-2 mm long. Glumes of central spikelet mostly 12-30 mm long, expanded somewhat above base and that portion with ciliate hairs to ca. 1 mm long; glumes of lateral spikelets dimorphic, the outer awn-like, the inner ones slightly to distinctly dialated below; lemma of central spikelets 6-12 mm long, glabrous or scaberulous, tapered to an awn 1-6 cm long; lemmas of lateral spikelets 7-18 mm long, each tapered to an awn about equal to the central one; anthers 0.2-1.4 mm long (adapted from: Welsh et al., 1993, A Utah Flora, 2nd ed.).

Range Comments
Introduced; BC and AB south through much of western North America east to TX and OK, less common in some Gulf Coast and Atlantic coastal states (Kartesz in prep. 2012).

Habitat
Mostly weedy in cultivated areas and dry waste places, but somtimes in sagebrush and brush or conifer communities (Welsh et al., 1993, A Utah Flora, 2nd ed.).

Management

References
  • Additional ReferencesLegend:   View Online Publication
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    • Brey, C.W. 1998. Epidemiology of wheat curl mite (Aceria tosichella K.) and wheat streak mosaic virus on feral grass species and effect of glyphosate on wheat curl mite dispersal. Ph.D. Dissertation. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 136 p.
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
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Citation for data on this website:
Mouse Barley — Hordeum murinum.  Montana Field Guide.  .  Retrieved on , from