Hordeum pusillum
| Hordeum pusillum | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Monocots |
| (unranked): | Commelinids |
| Order: | Poales |
| Family: | Poaceae |
| Genus: | Hordeum |
| Species: | H. pusillum |
| Binomial name | |
| Hordeum pusillum Nutt. |
|
Hordeum pusillum or little barley is a diploid-type species of the Poaceae family of grasses. H. pusillum, native to the United States except the westernmost parts, originated via multiple long-distance dispersals of a southern South American species of Hordeum to North America about 1 million years ago.[1] Its closest relatives are therefore not the other North American taxa like meadow barley (H. brachyantherum) or foxtail barley (a.k.a. squirreltail grass, H. jubatum), but rather annual[clarification needed] taxa occurring in the pampas of central Argentina and in Uruguay. It is also only distantly related to the Old World crop barley (H. vulgare cultivars), from which the lineage leading to H. pusillum diverged about 12 million years ago.
[edit] Description
The tiny seeds are edible, and this plant was part of the Eastern Agricultural Complex of cultivated plants used in Pre-Columbian times by Native Americans. Before being displaced by maize agriculture, little barley may have been domesticated. Today it can be found in grassland and at the borders of marshes, as well as in ruderal habitats like roadsides.[2][3]
[edit] References
- ^ Blattner, F. R. (2006). "Multiple Intercontinental Dispersals Shaped the Distribution area of Hordeum (Poaceae)". New Phytologist 169 (3): 603–614. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8137.2005.01610.x. PMID 16411962. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2005.01610.x. Retrieved April 10, 2009.
- ^ National Plant Data Center (2010). "PLANTS Profile: Hordeum pusillum Nutt. – little barley". The PLANTS Database. Baton Rouge, LA: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=HOPU. Retrieved April 3, 2010.
- ^ Hilty, John (January 28, 2010). "Little Barley". Illinois Wildflowers. Urbana, IL: self-published. http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/grasses/plants/little_barley.htm. Retrieved April 3, 2010.
- Pleines, T.; Blattner, F. R. (2008). "Phylogeographic Implications of an AFLP Phylogeny of the American Diploid Hordeum Species (Poaceae: Triticeae)". Taxon 57 (3): 875–881. http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iapt/tax/2008/00000057/00000003/art00016. Retrieved April 10, 2009.[clarification needed]
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