66 GRAMINEAE (GRASS FAMILY) 



Little Barley is not such a dangerous pest as Squirrel-tail-grass, 

 but it makes a similar growth in tufts and crowds out better forage ; 

 also, its early bloom causes it to become 

 dry and worthless just when green food 

 is most needed. (Fig. 33.) 



Culms six to fifteen inches tall, smooth, 

 erect or decumbent at the base. Sheaths 

 loose, smooth, shorter than the inter- 

 nodes, the upper often enclosing the base 

 of the spike; blades one to three inches 

 long, erect, and rough. Spikes erect, one 

 to three inches in length; spikelets clus- 

 tered in threes, the central one fertile, the 

 lateral pair abortive ; glumes of the fertile 

 spikelet dilated above the base and taper- 

 ing into a slender awn, rough but not 

 barbed, equaling the awned lemma. 



Means of control 



Early and frequent cutting in order to 

 prevent the development of seed. 



WALL BARLEY 



Hdrdeum murinum, L. 



Other English names: Waybent, Barley- 

 grass. 



Introduced. Annual. Propagates by seeds. 

 Time of bloom : June to July. 

 Seed-time: July to August. 

 Range : California and Oregon ; also in 

 FIG. 33. Little Bar- Atlantic States along the coast near sea- 



ley (Hordeum pusillum). ports. 



x i- Habitat : Fields and waste places. 



A European relative of the Squirrel-tail-grass, the roughened 

 awns of which are nearly as unpleasant to grazing animals as those 

 of the native plant. Culms six inches to two feet tall, erect or 

 decumbent at base, growing in tufts. Sheaths loose, shorter than 

 the internodes on the long stems, overlapping on the shorter ones, 



