Hordeum depressum

Low barley, alkali barley, Alkali Barley

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Native

Low barley is a California native annual grass found in moist sites with alkaline soils across the state's central and southern regions at elevations below 2,200 meters. Flowering from April to May, this plant produces pale green to reddish inflorescences 2.2 to 7 centimeters long with delicate flower clusters. Growing in loosely tufted clusters 10 to 55 centimeters tall with erect stems, it develops distinctive glabrous nodes. Its leaf blades are narrow, up to 7.5 centimeters long and 4.5 millimeters wide, with surfaces that are sparsely to densely hairy. The plant's central spikelets feature glumes 5.5 to 20 millimeters long with straight awns 3 to 12 millimeters in length.

Habitat: Moist sites, vernal pools, generally alkaline soils

Bloom period: Apr-May

Elevation: < 2200 m

Bioregions: CA (exc GB, DSon)

California counties: Contra Costa, Kern, San Bernardino, Orange, San Luis Obispo, Fresno, Yolo, Los Angeles, Stanislaus, Riverside, Tulare, Alameda, Siskiyou, San Diego, Santa Clara, Kings, Marin, San Joaquin, Alpine, Colusa, Mono, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Ventura, Merced, Monterey, Butte, Napa, Sacramento, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, Glenn, Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt, Placer, Solano, Madera, Amador, El Dorado

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