| 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 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.
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]