GRASSES. 313 
Hordeum gussoneanum Parl. 
This is a graceful weak-stemmed grass, 4 to 8 inches high, which, 
much to the detriment of cultivation, often completely covers large 
areas of low adobe ground in Round Valley. It bears a close resem- 
blance to depauperate forms of the foxtail grass (//ordeum murinum). 
Its seeds are supposed to have been carried into the valley by sheep. 
While still green the erass makes an excellent fodder, but later it 
often causes much mischief on account of its barbed florets, which 
easily separate from the spike and get into the mouth, nose, ears, or 
eyes of animals, where they inflame or perforate the tissues, and 
sometimes cause such severe suffering that the animal has to be killed. 
Several cases were reported where different animals lost their eyesight 
from this cause. One of the best methods proposed for getting rid of 
the grass is to burn the fields over in July or August, when the seed 
is fully mature and the fields are dry. 
Sitanion elymoides Raf. 
Koi-é' -kas’-7l (Yuki). A native grass, | to 2 feet high, which, on 
account of its long capillary awns and wide-spreading spike and the 
consequent resemblance to the tail of a tree squirrel, is popularly 
known as ‘‘squirreltail.” It is common along creeks and on dry hills 
throughout Round Valley. As in the case of the preceding and next 
species, the grass is excellent for green pasturage; but when dry it is 
even more dangerous to stock on account of the greater ease with which 
the sharp barbed florets separate from the spike. 
Hordeum murinum L. 
Koi-é'-kas"'-i1..—The same name is applied by the Yukis to this 
erass as to the preceding species. It is, however, recognized as some- 
thing quite different, and is well known as foxtail. This differs from 
the squirreltail in its coarser structure and less spreading spike. The 
awns are somewhat less dangerous to animals. The seeds have been, 
and perhaps are still, used to some extent by the Indians for pinole. 
Hordeum vulgare L. 
No Indian name was learned for the ordinary cultivated barley. 
The poorer squaws often go along the edges of a barley hay field 
after the hay has been cut and gather considerable quantities of the 
ripened grain, 
A decoction of the well-parched seeds is drunk by some of the Yukis 
as a substitute for coffee, but most of the seed is ground into flour and 
made into bread. Inthe process of grinding a very ingenious method 
is used for separating the flour from the coarser unground particles of 
the seed. This is carried out by tossing the mixed mass about with a 
