Hordeum jubatum L.
Foxtail barley, squirreltail, squirreltail barley.
Poaceae, grass family.
Sp. Pl. 1: 85. 1753.
Elymus jubatus Link, Hort. Regius Bot. Berol. 1: 19. 1827. Critesion jubatum Nevski in Komarov, Fl. USSR 2: 721. 1934.
Type: Habitat in Canada Kalm.
Hordeum caespitosum Scribn. in Pammel, Proc. Davenport Acad. Nat. Sci. 7: 245. 1899. H. jubatum var. caespitosum A.S. Hitchc., Proc. Biol. Soc. Wash. 41: 160. 1928. (Type: U.S.A. Wyoming: Geranium Park, July 1897, Pammel 157).
Vegetative morphology. Plants perennial herbs; (20–)30–70 cm high; caespitose. Ground-level or under-ground stems not developed horizontally or vertically. Aerial stems erect, or decumbent; circular or oval in cross-section; glabrous. Leaves distributed along the stems; alternate; marcescent. Prophylls 10 mm long (approximately); with smooth veins; lacking pronounced keels. Petioles absent. Sheaths with the margins fused only in the lower part; glabrous; collars present. Ligules present; 0.5–1 mm long; a fringed membrane; hairy; transversely oblong; apices truncate; erose. Blades 50–200 mm long; 1.5–4(–5) mm wide. Blades appressed to the stem; rolled in bud; linear; without auricles; flat, or involute; veins parallel; midvein similar in size to other veins in the leaf. Blades adaxial surface scabrous, or hairy (with long trichomes). Blades abaxial surface scabrous, or hairy (with long trichomes).
Reproductive morphology. Flowering stems present. Flowering stems hairy. Flowering culm nodes becoming exposed; number visible 0–3. Inflorescence spicate (the spikelets forming a triad at each node with the central one fertile and usually sessile; the lateral ones pedicellate, and usually sterile); dense; lanceolate; 4–10 cm long (excluding awns); 40–80 mm wide (including awns); main axis hairy. Spikelets pedicellate (lateral spikelets borne on curved pedicels, 0.7–1.2 mm long), or sessile (central fertile floret); disarticulating at the nodes of the main axis (above each node, the rachis segment remaining at the base of the spikelet triad); dorsoventrally compressed (fertile spikelet); ovate (fertile spikelet); 5.5–8 mm long; 1–1.5 mm wide. Florets per spikelet 1 (for each member of the triad). First glume 1 × the length of the second glume; 1 × spikelet length; 25–60(–150) mm long; linear; with trichomes; margins ciliate; veins 1; apex acuminate. Second glume as long, or longer than the spikelet (awn-like); almost as long as, or longer than, the lowest floret; linear; 25–60(–150) mm long; with trichomes; veins 1. Rachilla internode 0.3–0.5 mm long; scabrous. Rachilla not pronounced between the florets; extending beyond the uppermost floret (awn-like, sometimes with a rudimentary floret). Lemma 5.5–8 mm long; elliptic; rounded on the back; surface dull; surface glabrous; veins 5. Lemma apex acuminate; entire; glabrous; awned. Awn arising from the tip; 10–60 mm long. Palea well developed; 5–7.5 mm long (sub-equal to lemma); with glabrous veins. Perianth reduced to lodicules. Stamens 3. Anthers 1–1.5 mm long. Gynoecia superior. Carpels syncarpous; 3. Styles 2. Ovules 1. Fruit sessile. Fruit dry; a caryopsis; indehiscent. Fruit 6–8 mm long. Seeds 1.
Chromosome information. 2n = 14 and 28. 14 (2x). - Tanji
(1925 Japan?); Aase (1935); Stebbins and Love (1941 southwestern USA); Chin
(1941); Perak (1943 South America); Ward (1983 southwestern USA); Jahan et al.
(1992).
28 (4x). - Mitchell and Hodgson (1965, 1968 Alaska);
Hedberg (1967 Alaska); Zhukova (1967 north eastern Asia); Zhukova and Petrovsky
(1976 western Chukotka); Zhukova et al. (1977a north eastern Asia); Löve
(1980, 1984); Probatova and Sokolovskaya (1982 north eastern Asia); Rudyka (1986
Russsia-Siberia). Very numerous more southern counts. Ploidy levels recorded
2x&4x.
Distribution. Arctic Islands: Baffin.
Ecology and habitat. Substrates: dry meadows (grass meadow, disturbed locations); gravel, sand. Habitats: A widespread temperate species that in Inuvik is sometimes mowed as a lawn grass. It appears to be an accidental introduction on Baffin Island.
Taxon as an environmental indicator. This introduced species could be indicative of Hudson Bay store activity in an area in the past, or Northern Store activity in the present, as freigther canoes built in Quebec near Montreal, are packed with straw for shipping and foxtail barley seed may be present in that straw.
Notes. This species was first collected in the Arctic Islands in 1986,
as an apparently accidental introduction at Apex, Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island
(63°43'N, 68°27'W), in front of the former Hudson Bay Manager's house.
It is suggested that it was introduced in straw used as packing in freigther
canoes shipped north from near Montreal. The introduction is suspected to have
occurred in the late 1960's when straw was fed to a goat tethered where the
plants were found. Plants were observed in 1986, 1989, and again in 1998. They
were flourishing and the species would be expected to do well if introduced at
other sites.
The taxon in the Arctic is subsp. jubatum. It occurs in
the Arctic regions of Continental N.W.T. and the Yukon.
Illustrations. • Field plants. Nunavut, Baffin Island, Apex, in front of Hudson Bay manager's house. Introduction that possibly came in with straw used to pack freighter canoes shipped up from Montreal. One year it was fed to a goat or was it a pig?. This grass was observed in 1986, and still present in 1997. • Distribution map.
Cite this publication as: ‘S.G. Aiken, M.J. Dallwitz, L.L. Consaul, C.L. McJannet, L.J. Gillespie, R.L. Boles, G.W. Argus, J.M. Gillett, P.J. Scott, R. Elven, M.C. LeBlanc, A.K. Brysting and H. Solstad. 1999 onwards. Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version: 29th April 2003. http://www.mun.ca/biology/delta/arcticf/’. Dallwitz (1980) and Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993, 1995, 2000) should also be cited (see References).
