Foxtail Barley
Hordeum jubatum L.
Poaceae (Grass Family)
▼ ▲ mature plants showing characteristic feathery inflorescences
▲ ▼ inflorescences
▲ ▼ inflorescences
▲ collar and ▼ ligule
▲ large population of foxtail barley in a moist-soil field
Foxtail Barley:
· Small perennial grass with very distinct inflorescence (like a fox tail or squirrel tail or paintbrush) grows about 1-2’ tall
· Leaves light to medium green, slender, tapering to fine point at tips
· Inflorescence a spike of very long-awned spikelets; awns green to yellow to pinkish in color; has more and/or longer awns than little barley or squirreltail barley; inflorescence breaks apart at maturity, compared to persistent inflorescence of medusahead
· Awns can irritate livestock feeding on them
· Found in reduced tillage crops, roadsides, pastures; more common north and west of here