Mediterranean Barley-grass

Status:

Native to southern and eastern Europe. Naturalised in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, New Zealand and USA.

Plant Description:

Tufted annual grass to 50 cm tall with erect to spreading, stems covered with loose hairs (0.5-1 mm long) in the lower parts and with velvety-hairy, flat, leaves 4-15 cm long and 1.5-4 mm wide; ligule membranous, 0.5 mm long.

Inflorescence, a compact, much bristled, semi-flattened spike, 1.5-5 cm long, containing spikelets in groups of three. Each spikelet is composed of a single, central and awned floret and two bristles. A number of species have a similar inflorescence appearance (see notes on spikelet differences).

Habitat:

A colonizer of disturbed low-lying situations associated with pasture plants. Widespread in saline areas on seasonally wet sites.

Comments:

Similar to the saline land coloniser, Sea Barley-grass (H. marinum) and the non-saline land colonizer, Barley-grass (H. murinum)