Hordeum arizonicum

Arizona barley, Arizona Barley

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Arizona barley is a California native perennial found in the central Sierra Nevada, Sonoran Desert, Sacramento Valley, and California Ranges in wet, often saline places at elevations of 50 to 1,400 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces pale green inflorescences 5 to 12 centimeters long with delicate, divergent spikelets. Growing in tufted clusters with erect stems 21 to 75 centimeters tall, the plant develops glabrous nodes and a distinctive growth pattern. Its narrow leaves are less than 4 millimeters wide, up to 13 centimeters long, with lower leaf sheaths notably hairy while upper sheaths remain smooth. The plant's central spikelets feature glumes 11 to 28 millimeters long with an awn 10 to 22 millimeters in length, creating a unique structural appearance.

Habitat: Uncommon. Wet, often saline, places

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: 50-1400 m

Bioregions: CaRF, c SNH, ScV, DSon

California counties: Solano, Lassen, Inyo, Riverside, Butte, Sacramento, Fresno, San Bernardino

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.