Index / Search / Hordeum vulgare

§1 Plant

Hordeum vulgare L.

vernacular common barley — species · Poaceae


USDA
HOVU
GBIF
2706056
Rank
species
common barley (Hordeum vulgare)
Platephotograph · sebastianvCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Graminoid
Duration
Annual
Group
Monocot
Family
Poaceae Barnhart
Genus
Hordeum
§2a

Native status, by region

  • AK Alaska Introduced
  • CAN Canada Introduced
  • GL Greenland Introduced
  • HI Hawaii Introduced
  • L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
§2b

County-level range

· 9 counties across 2 states/territories
Legend Native · 0 Introduced · 9 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
Medium
Shade
High
Moisture use
Medium
Fire
Low
Salinity
High
Anaerobic
Low
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-43 °F minimum
Frost-free days
90 min.
Precipitation
12–100 in/yr
pH range
5–8.5
Root depth
10 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
medium
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Bunch
Growth rate
Rapid
Mature height
2.5 ft
Foliage texture
Fine
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Moderate
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
Yellow
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Spring
Seed abundance
High
Seed begins
Spring
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Slow
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
13,600
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
Medium
Graze palatability
High
Palatable, human
Yes
Protein potential
Medium
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 9 counties across 2 states/territories.


§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/HOVU ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2706056 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z