Hordeum murinum subsp. glaucum

Smooth barley, Smooth Barley

Family: Poaceae · Type: annual · Not Native

Smooth barley is a naturalized annual grass found throughout California, except in the Klamath Ranges, Cascade Range, and Great Basin, inhabiting moist and generally disturbed sites at elevations from 60 meters below sea level to 1,900 meters. Flowering from March to July, this plant produces green to glaucous inflorescences that turn brown as they mature, with distinctive awned spikelets. Growing with slender stems 15 to 40 centimeters tall, it spreads easily in disrupted landscapes. Its leaves are narrow and grass-like, typical of the barley genus, with smooth green to bluish-green blades. The distinctive inflorescence features central and lateral spikelets with long, delicate awns that help distinguish it from native grass species.

Habitat: Moist, generally disturbed sites

Bloom period: Mar-Jul

Elevation: -60-1900 m

Bioregions: CA (exc KR, CaR, SNE)

California counties: Ventura, Los Angeles, Kern, Santa Barbara, Tuolumne, Riverside, Sacramento, Sonoma, San Bernardino, Inyo, San Joaquin, Imperial, Siskiyou, Humboldt, Tehama, San Diego, Contra Costa, Stanislaus, Solano, Monterey, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, Lake, Alameda, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, Amador, Glenn, Colusa, Orange, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Clara, Tulare, Placer, Yolo, Lassen, Sutter, Nevada, Yuba, Calaveras, Mariposa, Merced, Mono, Kings, Trinity, Madera, Fresno, Butte, Modoc, Shasta, Mendocino, 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.