Foxtail Barley
Hordeum jubatum
Foxtail Barley (Hordeum jubatum) is a short-lived native perennial grass, 20–80 cm tall, with silky, nodding spikes of long awns (bristles) that are whitish green to purplish. It blooms June into August on roadsides, in meadows and on salty ground, and the 1986 plant survey of Jewel Cave National Monument lists it in the Black Hills. Photographed in the Black Hills.
Free photos from other sources
| Family | Poaceae · Grass |
|---|---|
| Status | Native perennial |
| Blooms | June into August |
| Height | 20–80 cm (8–30 in) |
| Where | Roadsides, ditches, pastures and waste ground, often in salty soil |
| Also called | Squirrel-tail Grass, Squirrel-tail Barley, yus’íŋs’iŋ ité (Lakota), ité ašníyaŋpi (Lakota) |
| Synonym | Critesion jubatum |
| Traditional use | Sitting Bull College's 1998 Culturally Important Plants of the Lakota records a dried-root poultice for eye sties and notes that the plant indicates high-alkaline soil. |
Roots, seeds & germination
Root: Fibrous roots.
Seed: Ripe seed heads break apart and scatter on the wind or in animals' hair. The sharp awns can lodge in the mouths and noses of grazing animals and cause sores.
Germination: Seeds germinate in two flushes, one in spring and one in fall, and warm summer temperatures inhibit them. Germination doesn't depend on light, and it falls off in soil above about 1 percent total salts.
How do you identify Foxtail Barley?
Look for a single dense, nodding spike 2–4 inches long at the stem tip, with long, rough awns up to 3½ inches long that spread as it matures and give the dry head a bottle-brush look. Stems are smooth and grow in loose to dense clumps.
When does it bloom?
June into August.
Where does it grow?
Roadsides, waste places, fields, ditches, pastures and the edges of marshes and sloughs, often in salty soil. The Forest Service says it grows chiefly on plains grasslands and lower foothills. The 1986 Jewel Cave survey lists it.
Sources: Minnesota Wildflowers: Foxtail Barley; Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System: Hordeum jubatum; Flora of North America: Hordeum jubatum; Kansas Wildflowers: Hordeum jubatum; Marriott and Hartman 1986, A Survey of the Vegetation of Jewel Cave National Monument; Culturally Important Plants of the Lakota (Black Elk and Flying By, Sitting Bull College, 1998), filed with the South Dakota PUC.