Meadow barley

Hordeum secalinum, the meadow barley, is a slender tufted perennial grass in the family Poaceae native to western and central Europe, the Mediterranean basin, and northern Africa, with naturalized populations in parts of North America. Plants form loose tufts 30-80 cm tall with slender erect culms slightly geniculate at the base. Leaf blades are flat or somewhat involute, 2-4 mm wide and 5-20 cm long, with finely hairy upper surfaces and rough margins; the ligule is a very short truncate membrane no more than 1 mm long, and the auricles at the base of the blade are small and pointed. The inflorescence is a slender erect cylindrical spike 4-10 cm long and 4-8 mm wide (excluding awns), composed of triplets of sessile spikelets borne alternately on either side of a stiff rachis. The central spikelet of each triplet is fertile and bears a long slender erect awn 10-25 mm long, while the two lateral spikelets are usually reduced and sterile. Flowering takes place from May to July. Caryopses are slender, longitudinally grooved, and tightly enclosed by the lemma and palea at maturity. The species inhabits brackish or seasonally damp meadows, river floodplains, and old pastures, particularly on clay or marine alluvial soils.