116 THE SMALL GRAINS 



lateral ones sessile or very short pedicellate, fertile 

 or sterile ; terminal spikelet aborted ; glumes obtuse. 

 Hordeum murinum, Linn., a common weed, which has 

 pedicellate lateral spikelets, belongs here. 



107. Roots. As in other small cereals, the roots of 

 barley are fibrous. The seminal roots are 5-8 in number. 

 Often there are 6 in two parallel rows of 3 each. The 

 crown, from which the permanent roots arise, is formed 

 near the surface of the ground, and may be one or 

 more inches above the seed, depending upon the 

 depth of planting. Barley is generally believed to be 

 more shallow rooted than the other cereals. Barley and 

 oat roots appear to be coarser and more numerous than 

 those of wheat, and >form a more matted growth near the 

 soil surface. In other words, these cereals are closer and 

 stronger feeders. The roots of barley apparently grow 

 even less than those of other cereals after the beginning of 

 flowering. In winter barley, according to Rotmistrov 

 (1913, p. 25), the root length. is about 120 cm. and the 

 root coefficient 13200; in spring six-row varieties root 

 length 110 cm., root coefficient 7920; in two-row varie- 

 ties root length, 120 cm. root coefficient 10800. 



108. Culms. The barley plant is shorter, as an aver- 

 age, than that of any other cereal, though some two-row 

 varieties attain a good height. With the exception of 

 portions of the spike, the entire plant is glabrous or occa- 

 sionally has scattering hairs on the leaves. The culms 

 are round, and hollow except at the nodes. The length 

 of culm is affected greatly by environment. Odessa and 

 Oderbrucker vary in height just the reverse of each other 

 in Minnesota and Montana, the former being taller in 

 Montana and the latter in Minnesota. The number of 

 culms in a single plant averages 3 to 6 but may reach 15 



