Hordeum vulgare L. Barley Habit: Annual or winter annual. Culms: 50-120 cm. tall, coarse but weak, erect. Blades: Broad, flat, mostly 5-15 mm. wide, lower surface scabrous, with long glabrous auricles. Ligule: Membranous, short, truncate. Inflorescence: Spikes dense, erect or nearly so, 2-10 cm. long, excluding awns, the rachis not disarticulating at maturity. Spikelets: Sessile, alternately in 3's at each node of the rachis, all perfect. Glumes: Equal, narrow, divergent at base, about 8 mm. long, with awns 7-10 mm. long. Lemmas: 10-12 mm. long, lanceolate, smooth, rounded on the back, narrowed into a scabrous awn, 10-15 cm. long, straight, erect, the rachilla extended into a short hairy pedicel. Palea: About as long as its lemma. Fruit: Grain hairy at the summit, usually adherent to the palea at maturity. Habitat: Cultivated land, waste places and old fields; spontaneous for a year or two but not persistent. Kansas Range: Cultivated throughout. Use: Cultivated for its grain. Synonyms: Hordeum aegiceras Nees ex Royle Hordeum distichon L. Hordeum hexastichum L. Hordeum hexastichon L. Hordeum irregulare Aberg & Wiebe Hordeum sativum Pers. Hordeum vulgare L. var. trifurcatum (Schlecht.) Alef.