Publication: Sp. Pl. 1: 84-85. 1753.

Origin: Introduced from Eurasia

Herbarium search: CPNWH

Notes: FNA24: "Hordeum vulgare is native to Eurasia. Plants in the Flora region belong to the cultivated subspecies, H. vulgare L. subsp. vulgare. The progenitor of cultivated barley, H. vulgare subsp. spontaneum (K. Koch) Thell., has a brittle rachis, tough awn, and, often, shrunken seeds. It does not grow in the Flora region.

Hordeum vulgare subsp. vulgare was first domesticated in western Asia. It is now grown in most temperate parts of the world. In the Flora region, it occurs as a cultivated species that is often found as an adventive in fields, roadsides, and waste places throughout the region, not just at the locations shown on the map. There are many distinctive, but interfertile, forms. Bothmer et al. (1995) presented an artificial classification of such forms."

Last updated 12/21/2023 by David Giblin.