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Foxtail Barley (Hordeum jubatum)

• Family: Grass (Poaceae)
• Flowering: May-October.
• Field Marks: This grass is distinguished by its soft, nodding spikes with awns up to 2 1/2 inches long.
• Habitat: Along roads, disturbed soil.
• Habit: Annual herb with fibrous roots.
• Stems: Erect, smooth, up to 2 feet tall.
• Leaves: Up to 5 inches long, up to 1/4 inch broad, smooth or finely hairy on both surfaces, with usually smooth sheaths.
• Flowers: Borne in spikelets, with 3 spikelets in a group; the middle spikelet without a stalk and bearing both stamens and pistils; the outer spikelets with a short stalk and usually sterile; awns up to 2 1/2 inches long.
• Stamens: 3.
• Pistils: Ovary superior.
• Grains: Hairy at the tip.
• Notes: This is a good pasture grass before the flowering heads mature.