Hordeum
Hordeum vulgare f. distichon
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Poales Family: Poaceae Genus: Hordeum L.

Hordeum is a genus of about 30 species of annual and perennial grasses, native throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere, temperate South America, and also South Africa.

One species, H. vulgare (barley), is of major commercial importance as a cereal grain, used as fodder crop and for malting in beer and whiskey production. Some species are nuisance weeds introduced world-wide by human activities others endangered due to habitat loss.

Hordeum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including The Flame, Rustic Shoulder-knot and Setaceous Hebrew Character.

Species

The genus Hordeum comprises currently 32 species:

• Hordeum arizonicum
• Hordeum bogdanii
• Hordeum brachyantherum
  • with the subspecies (subsp.) brachyantherum (meadow barley) and californicum (California barley)
• Hordeum brevisubulatum
  • subsp. brevisubulatum, iranicum, nevskianum, turkestanicum, and violaceum
• Hordeum bulbosum
• Hordeum capense
• Hordeum chilense
• Hordeum comosum
• Hordeum cordobense
• Hordeum depressum
• Hordeum erectifolium
• Hordeum euclaston
• Hordeum flexuosum
• Hordeum fuegianum
• Hordeum guatemalense
• Hordeum gussoneanum (sea barley)
• Hordeum intercedens
• Hordeum jubatum (foxtail barley)
• Hordeum lechleri
• Hordeum marinum (sea barley)
• Hordeum murinum (wall barley)
  • subsp. murinum, glaucum, and leporinum
• Hordeum muticum
• Hordeum patagonicum
  • subsp. patagonicum, magellanicum, mustersi, santacrucense, and setifolium
• Hordeum parodii
• Hordeum procerum
• Hordeum pubiflorum
  • subsp. pubiflorum and halophilum
• Hordeum pusillum
• Hordeum roshevitzii
• Hordeum secalinum
• Hordeum stenostachys
• Hordeum tetraploidum
• Hordeum vulgare (barley)
  • barley (Hordeum vulgare subsp. vulgare)
    • two-rowed barley (Hordeum vulgare f. distichon)
    • six-rowed barley (Hordeum vulgare f. hexastichon, Hordeum vulgare f. agriochriton)
  • wild barley (Hordeum vulgare subsp. spontaneum)

References

• R. von Bothmer, N. Jacobsen, C. Baden, R. B. Jørgensen & I. Linde-Laursen (1995). An ecogeographical study of the genus Hordeum, 2nd ed.. International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, Rome. ISBN 92-9043-229-2. 
• F. R. Blattner (2004). Phylogenetic analysis of Hordeum (Poaceae) as inferred by nuclear rDNA ITS sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 33 (2): 289–299. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.05.012. 
• F. R. Blattner (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. 
• S. S. Jakob, A. Ihlow & F. R. Blattner (2007). Combined ecological niche modelling and molecular phylogeography revealed the evolutionary history of Hordeum marinum (Poaceae) — niche differentiation, loss of genetic diversity, and speciation in Mediterranean Quaternary refugia. Molecular Ecology 16 (8): 1713–1727. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2007.03228.x. 

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Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia; from the article "Hordeum". Image Credit.

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