keys to the vascular plants of east texas - Botanical Research ...

962 POACEAE/IMPERATA
Nevski] The awns can become embedded in and cause mechanical damage to the nose, eyes,
mouth, nostrils, and intestines of grazing livestock; this species is thus not valuable as forage
except when very young (Best et al. 1978; Yatskievych 1999). The long awns are part of a wind
dispersal “syndrome”—“small, light seeds and long, setaceous glumes and awns which spread
out in the fruiting stage and serve as a flying apparatus” (Bothmer et al. 1981). The rough awns
also stick to animals, resulting in further seed dispersal (Best et al. 1978).
Hordeum murinum L. subsp. leporinum (Link) Arcang., (sp.: mouse-gray; subsp.: hare-like), HARE
BARLEY. Annual 30–75(–110) cm tall; culms erect or decumbent basally; inflorescence 3–8 cm
long (excluding awns), often enclosed in part by uppermost leaf sheath; lateral 2 spikelets of 3spikelet
clusters sterile (usually staminate); lemma awn 10–35 mm long. Disturbed sites; Dallas,
Harris, Williamson (BRIT), Bexar, Collin, Madison and Travis (Turner et al. 2003) cos.; widely
scattered in TX; e U.S. from ME s to GA, also sw Canada (B.C.) and w U.S. from WA s to CA e to
MT and TX. Apr. Native of the Mediterranean region. [Critesion murinum subsp. leporinum
(Link) Á. Löve, H. leporinum Link] The appropriate taxonomic level at which to recognize the
variation seen in the H. murinum complex is not completely clear. Giles and Lefkovitch (1986)
noted that morphology suggests recognizing separate species, while interfertility supports recognition
of a number of subspecies, as suggested by Jacobsen and Bothmer (1995) and Bothmer
et al. (ined.) and as followed here. This species exhibits adaptations for dispersal by animals—
the margins of the awns, glumes, and rachis internodes have stiff scabrid hairs which cause attachment
of the dispersal units to fur and clothing (Bothmer et al. 1981). The awns can cause
mechanical injury to grazing livestock (Burlage 1968). I
Hordeum pusillum Nutt., (very small), LITTLE BARLEY, MOUSE BARLEY. Annual 12–60 cm tall;
culms erect or with bent or decumbent base, with nodes dark; inflorescence (2–)4–8 cm long
(excluding awns), flattened; lateral 2 spikelets of 3-spikelet clusters sterile, with lemmas ca. 1/3
to 1/2 as long as lemma of central spikelet. Disturbed sites; throughout TX; scattered in s
Canada and throughout most of the U.S. Apr–May. [Critesion pusillum (Nutt.) Á. Löve, H.
pusillum var. pubens Hitchc.]
Hordeum vulgare L. subsp. vulgare, (common), BARLEY, COMMON BARLEY. Glabrous annual; vegetatively
resembling WHEAT and RYE; culms 50–120 cm tall; axis of inflorescence (2–)6–10 cm
long, remaining intact (vs. abscising at each node in other East TX species); spikelets all fertile;
lemma awn long, to 18 cm. Cultivated throughout much of TX and occasionally occurring as a
transitory waif along roadsides, railroads, and field margins; Brazos (BRIT), Nacogdoches,
Travis, Washington, Williamson (Turner et al. 2003), and San Jacinto (E. Keith, pers. comm.)
cos.; sparsely scattered in TX; throughout most of Canada and most of the U.S. Apr–May. Like its
wild ancestor, H. vulgare subsp. spontaneum (C. Koch) Thell., BARLEY is native to Eurasia
(Zohary & Hopf 1994). Subspecies spontaneum and subsp. vulgare are interfertile and very
similar at the molecular level (Asfaw & Bothmer 1990; Doebley et al. 1992). BARLEY is considered
one of the two oldest cultivated plants (WHEAT, Triticum aestivum, is the other), having
been brought into cultivation prior to 7,000 BC. As such, it was probably important in the development
of early civilization in the Near East (Clayton & Renvoize 1986; Heiser 1990; Hancock
2004). BARLEY is able to stand drier, less fertile, and more saline conditions than WHEAT; its
short growing season “has enabled it to extend into the arid and high altitude fringes of temperate
agriculture” (Clayton & Renvoize 1986). It is the main cereal used in Old World beer production
(Zohary & Hopf 1994). I
IMPERATA Cirillo SATIN-TAIL
AA genus of 9 species of tropical to warm temperate areas of both hemispheres (Gabel 2003).
It is considered by some authorities (e.g., Clayton & Renvoize 1986) to be allied to Miscanthus,
and hybrids are known with Saccharum (Watson & Dallwitz 1992). Like all members of the