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''Hordeum pusillum'', also known as little barley, is an
annual Annual may refer to: *Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year ** Yearbook ** Literary annual *Annual plant *Annual report *Annual giving *Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco *Annuals (band), ...
grass native to most of the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
and southwestern
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. It arrived via multiple long-distance dispersals of a southern
South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
n species of ''
Hordeum ''Hordeum'' is a genus of annual and perennial plants in the grass family. They are native throughout the temperate regions of Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas. One species, ''Hordeum vulgare'' (barley), has become of major commercial importan ...
'' about one million years ago. Its closest relatives are therefore not the other North American
taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular nam ...
like
meadow barley ''Hordeum brachyantherum'', known by the common name meadow barley, is a species of barley. It is native to western North America from Alaska to northern Mexico, coastal areas of easternmost Russia (Kamchatka), and a small area of coastal Newfou ...
(''Hordeum brachyantherum'') or foxtail barley (''Hordeum jubatum''), but rather ''Hordeum'' species of the
pampas The Pampas (from the qu, pampa, meaning "plain") are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all of Uruguay; and Brazil ...
of central
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and
Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
. It is less closely related to the
Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...
domesticated
barley Barley (''Hordeum vulgare''), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago. Globally 70% of barley pr ...
, from which it diverged about 12 million years ago. It is
diploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Sets of chromosomes refer to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, respectively ...
.


Etymology

Hordeum ''Hordeum'' is a genus of annual and perennial plants in the grass family. They are native throughout the temperate regions of Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas. One species, ''Hordeum vulgare'' (barley), has become of major commercial importan ...
comes from the Latin word horreō, horrēre "to bristle " and '' pusillum'' is the "nominative neuter singular of pusillus"- "very little, very small, tiny."


Description

First described in 1818 by
Thomas Nuttall Thomas Nuttall (5 January 1786 – 10 September 1859) was an England, English botany, botanist and zoologist who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1841. Nuttall was born in the village of Long Preston, near Settle, North Yorkshire, S ...
, ''Hordeum'' ''pusillum'', also known as little barley, is an annual
flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
native to the majority of North America, mainly the United States and southwestern Canada. It is a member of the subfamily
Pooideae The Pooideae are the largest subfamily of the grass family Poaceae, with about 4,000 species in 15 tribes and roughly 200 genera. They include some major cereals such as wheat, barley, oat, rye and many lawn and pasture grasses. They are often r ...
in the grass family
Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...
. The plant itself is approximately tall and is self-fertilizing. Leaves and spikelets are alternate. The flat, pubescent leaves can range anywhere from in length and wide. The sheath of little barley can be either glabrous or pubescent and wraps loosely around the stem. The inflorescence ranges between long. Of the three alternating floral spikelets, only one is fertile. The plant's growth period is during the winter months, producing mature grains by April. The roots are fibrous, and the mark of a mature spikelet is when they turn a tan to brown color. The stem changes from a bluish-green color to brown as the plant matures. Its habitat is in sunny locations on dry gravely soils, rock outcrops, roadsides, railroads, waste places, in grasslands, and on marsh edges.


Germination

Little barley germinates best when exposed to light, and experiences best germination after one to two weeks of pre-chilling. Anymore than that and the viability of seeds decreases over time. After two weeks of pre-chilling, little barley seeds go into dormancy, allowing little barley to overwinter and come back year after year. Seeds germinate best at 17 and 20 degrees C. The more mature the seeds, the better they germinate.


Pollination

Pollination occurs during the winter through the summer. The center spikelet is fertile whilst the lateral spikelets are male and infertile.


Weed control

Little barley can suppress the growth of more desirable forage grasses. Little barley is best controlled prior to its dormancy in the fall or early spring, and can be further controlled through the use of the herbicides. Spring usage of herbicides has also been found effective at controlling the growth of little barley. Late winter or early spring treatment with Accent has been found effective. Prolonged usage of herbicides can result in higher tolerance.


Domestication

Little barley is believed to have been cultivated by Native Americans due to its abundance in archaeological sites. Evidence for the earliest known cultivation in eastern North America was found at the Gast Spring site in what is today Louisa County,
Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
. Seeds were found alongside domesticated
goosefoot ''Chenopodium'' is a genus of numerous species of perennial or annual herbaceous flowering plants known as the goosefoots, which occur almost anywhere in the world. It is placed in the family Amaranthaceae in the APG II system; older classifica ...
seeds and squash or gourd rinds dating to 2,800 to 3,000 years ago. Large plots were required to produce adequate harvests due to the grain's small size. ''Hordeum'' ''pusillum'' was briefly domesticated during the Prehispanic period. Evidence suggests domestication took place in the southeastern and southwestern United States. In the southeastern and midwestern United States, however, domestication lasted through the Middle Archaic and protohistoric periods. To the
Hohokam Hohokam () was a culture in the North American Southwest in what is now part of Arizona, United States, and Sonora, Mexico. It existed between 300 and 1500 AD, with cultural precursors possibly as early as 300 BC. Archaeologists disagree about ...
culture in
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
, archeological evidence suggests that little barley was used for trade between other tribes whose diet did not normally included domesticated little barley. Little barley cultivation is important in understanding pre-maize agriculture.


Uses

The small grains are edible, and this plant was part of the
Eastern Agricultural Complex The Eastern Agricultural Complex in the woodlands of eastern North America was one of about 10 independent centers of plant domestication in the pre-historic world. Incipient agriculture dates back to about 5300 BCE. By about 1800 BCE the Native ...
of cultivated plants used in the Pre-Columbian era by Native Americans. Before being displaced by
agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
based on
maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
, little barley may have been
domesticated Domestication is a sustained multi-generational relationship in which humans assume a significant degree of control over the reproduction and care of another group of organisms to secure a more predictable supply of resources from that group. A ...
.


Edibility

The grains would be dried, processed, and then cooked before eating. Cultivated for its edible grains, it is also classified as a cereal grain. Little barley seeds have an awn, a sharp hair-like attachment on the grain, which was then separated from the grain and possibly parched, roasted, and boiled. The seeds are nutritious and starchy. 100 grams of little barley constitutes almost 24.3 percent of carbohydrates, 22.4 percent of protein, 18 percent of calories, and 5–6 percent of fiber and fat of a recommended daily 2,000-calorie diet.


Allergenic

Little barley is known to be a mild allergen.


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q4117447 pusillum Flora of North America Crops originating from Pre-Columbian North America Crops originating from the United States Plants used in Native American cuisine Plants described in 1818 Taxa named by Thomas Nuttall Ruderal species Cereals