264 MISC. PUBLICATION 200, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



Spikelets soon divergent; lemmas glabrous or pubescent, not hispid. 



1. H. PATULA. 



Spikelets ascending or appressed; lemmas appressed-hispid. 



2. H. CALIFORNICA. 



1. Hystrix patula Moench. Bottlebrush. (Fig. 517.) Culms 

 slender, 60 to 120 cm tall; sheaths glabrous or scabrous, rarely re- 



trorsely pubescent; blades mostly 7 to 15 mm 

 wide; spike nodding, 8 to 15 cm long, the inter- 

 nodes of the slender rachis 5 to^lO mm long; 

 spikelets mostly in pairs, 1 to 1.5 cm long, 

 horizontally spreading toward maturity; lem- 

 mas glabrous or sometimes coarsely pubescent, 

 the awns 1 to 4 cm long, slender, straight. % 

 (H. hystrix Millsp.) — Moist or rocky woods, 

 Nova Scotia to North Dakota, south to Georgia 

 and Arkansas (fig. 518). Plants with pubescent lemmas have been 

 differentiated as H. patula var. bigeloviana (Fernald) Deam. Such 

 plants occur throughout the range, except from Delaware, Maryland, 

 and southward. 



2. Hystrix californica (Boland.) Kuntze. (Fig. 519.) Culms stout, 



1 to 2 m tall ; sheaths hispid or the upper smooth ; blades as much as 



2 cm wide; spike 12 to 25 cm long; spikelets usually 3 or 4 at a node, 

 1.2 to 1.5 cm long, thicker than in H. patula, ascending at maturity; 

 lemmas hispidulous, the awn about 2 cm long. % — Woods and 

 shaded banks, near the coast, Marin County to Santa Cruz County, 

 Calif. In addition to the sessile spikelets there may be a short branch 

 bearing one or two spikelets. 



46. HORDEUM L. Barley 



Figure 518.— Distribution of 

 Hystrix patula. 



Spikelets 1 -flowered (rarely 2-flowered), 3 (sometimes 2) together at 

 each node of the articulate rachis (continuous in Hordeum vulgar e), 

 the back of the lemma turned from the rachis, 

 the middle spikelet sessile, the lateral ones 

 pediceled; rachilla disarticulating above the 

 glumes and, in the central spikelet, prolonged 

 behind the palea as a bristle and sometimes 

 bearing a rudimentary floret; lateral spikelets 

 usually imperfect, sometimes reduced to bris- 

 tles; glumes narrow, often subulate and awned, 

 rigid, standing in front of the spikelet; lemmas 

 rounded on the back, 5-nerved, usually obscurely 

 so, tapering into a usually long awn. Annual 

 or perennial low or rather tall grasses, with flat 

 blades and dense bristly spikes. Type species, 

 Hordeum vulgar e. Hordeum, the old Latin name 

 for barley. 



Aside from the well-known cultivated barley, H. vulgare, the species 

 are of relatively minor value. All furnish forage when young but 

 many species are aggressive weeds and some (especially H. jubatum) 

 are at maturity injurious to stock because of the sharp-pointed joints 

 of the mature spikes, which pierce the nose and mouth parts. 



f 



Figure 519.— Hystrix califor- 

 nica. Spike, X Vi, floret, 

 X 3. (Vasey, Calif.) 



