Taxon: Hordeum pusillum Nutt.

Summary

Genus:

Hordeum

Subgenus:

Hordeastrum

Section:

Stenostachys

Series:

Critesion

Family:

Poaceae (alt. Gramineae)

Subfamily:

Pooideae

Tribe:

Triticeae

Nomen number:

19322

Place of publication:

Gen. N. Amer. pl. 1:87. 1818

Verified:

11/05/2007 ARS Systematic Botanists.

Accessions:

24 (10 active, 9 available) in National Plant Germplasm System. (Map it)

Other conspecific taxa

Autonyms (not in current use), synonyms and invalid designations

No images

Links

Forestry Images – from www.forestryimages.org

Conservation Status

Reference(s)

Aldén, B., S. Ryman, & M. Hjertson. 2012. Svensk Kulturväxtdatabas, SKUD (Swedish Cultivated and Utility Plants Database; online resource)
Baum, B. R. et al. 2005. Ancient differentiation of the H & I haplomes in diploid Hordeum species based on 5S rDNA. Genome 48:610-618.
Blattner, F. R. 2004. Phylogenetic analysis of Hordeum (Poaceae) as inferred by nuclear rDNA ITS sequences. Molec. Phylogenet. Evol. 33:289-299.
Bothmer, R. von & N. Jacobsen. 1985. Origin, taxonomy, and related species. In D. C. Rasmusson, ed., Barley. Agronomy 26:40.
Bothmer, R. von & N. Jacobsen. 1986. Interspecific crosses in Hordeum (Poaceae). Pl. Syst. Evol. 153:49-64.
Bothmer, R. von et al. 1982. Revision of the Hordeum pusillum group. Nordic J. Bot. 2:316.
Bothmer, R. von et al. 1983. Interspecific hybridization with cultivated barley (Hordeum vulgare). Hereditas (Beijing) 99:219-244.
Cronquist, A. et al. 1972-. Intermountain flora.
Doebley, J. et al. 1992. Chloroplast DNA variation and the phylogeny of Hordeum (Poaceae). Amer. J. Bot. 79:576-584.
Englert, J. 1999. New and upcoming native grass releases from the Eastern US Plant Materials Centers. In: Ritchie, J. C. et al., eds., Proceedings of the Second Eastern Native Grass Symposium, November 17-19, 1999. Baltimore, Maryland 2:132.
FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
Gleason, H. A. & A. Cronquist. 1963. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada.
Gould, F. W. & R. Moran. 1981. The grasses of Baja California, Mexico.
Gould, F. W. 1975. The grasses of Texas
Hickman, J. C., ed. 1993. The Jepson manual: higher plants of California Note: in part = Hordeum intercedens Nevski
Hitchcock, A. S. 1950. Manual of the grasses of the United States, ed. 2.
Jakob, S. S. & F. R. Blattner. 2006. A chloroplast genealogy of Hordeum (Poaceae): long-term persisting haplotypes, incomplete lineage sorting, regional extinction, and the consequences for phylogenetic inference. Molec. Biol. Evol. 23:1602-1612.
Komatsuda, T. et al. 1999. Phylogeny in the genus Hordeum based on nucleotide sequences closely linked to the vrs1 locus (row number of spikelets). Genome 42:973-981. Note: used one non-USDA accession (H2024) that clustered in a polytomic clade of American taxa
McGregor, R. L. et al. (The Great Plains Flora Association). 1986. Flora of the Great Plains.
Petersen, G. & O. Seberg. 2003. Phylogenetic analysis of the diploid species of Hordeum (Poaceae) and a revised classification of the genus. Syst. Bot. 28:293-306. www.aspt.net/systematic-botany
Pleines, T. & F. R. Blattner. 2008. Phylogeographic implications of an AFLP phylogeny of the American diploid Hordeum species (Poaceae: Triticeae). Taxon 57:875-881.
Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) (on-line resource).
Scoggan, H. J. 1978-1979. The flora of Canada, 4 vol.
Soreng, R. J. et al. 2003. Catalogue of New World grasses (Poaceae): IV. Subfamily Pooideae. Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 48:399.
Taketa, S. et al. 2001. Physical locations of 5S and 18S-25S rDNA in Asian and American diploid Hordeum species with the I-genome. Heredity 86:522-530.
Taketa, S. et al. 2005. Ancestry of American polyploid Hordeum species with the I genome inferred from 5S and 18S-25S rDNA. Ann. Bot. (Oxford) 96:23-33.
Wofford, B. E. Database of Tennessee vascular plants (on-line resource).
Zuloaga, F. O. et al. 1994. Catálogo de la familia Poaceae en la República Argentina. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 47
Zuloaga, F. O. et al. 2008. Catálogo de las plantas vasculares del Cono Sur (Argentina, sur de Brasil, Chile, Paraguay y Uruguay). Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 107:781-782.

Common names

Language	Name	Alternate name	note	seq	Citation
English	little barley			1	Hitchcock, A. S. 1950. Manual of the grasses of the United States, ed. 2.
Swedish	dvärgkorn			2	Aldén, B., S. Ryman, & M. Hjertson. 2012. Svensk Kulturväxtdatabas, SKUD (Swedish Cultivated and Utility Plants Database; online resource)

Distribution

order_code	Status	Continent	Subcontinent	Country	State	Note	Reference
1	Native	Northern America	North-Central U.S.A.	United States	Illinois		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	North-Central U.S.A.	United States	Iowa		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	North-Central U.S.A.	United States	Kansas		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	North-Central U.S.A.	United States	Minnesota	s.	FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	North-Central U.S.A.	United States	Missouri		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	North-Central U.S.A.	United States	Nebraska		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	North-Central U.S.A.	United States	North Dakota	s.w.	FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	North-Central U.S.A.	United States	Oklahoma		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	North-Central U.S.A.	United States	South Dakota		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Northeastern U.S.A.	United States	Indiana		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Northeastern U.S.A.	United States	Michigan	s.	FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Northeastern U.S.A.	United States	New Jersey		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Northeastern U.S.A.	United States	Ohio	s.	FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Northeastern U.S.A.	United States	Pennsylvania	s.	FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Northeastern U.S.A.	United States	West Virginia	s.	FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Northern Mexico	Mexico	Baja California (Norte)		Gould, F. W. & R. Moran. 1981. The grasses of Baja California, Mexico.
1	Native	Northern America	Northern Mexico	Mexico	Chihuahua		Gould, F. W. 1975. The grasses of Texas
1	Native	Northern America	Northwestern U.S.A.	United States	Colorado		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Northwestern U.S.A.	United States	Idaho		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Northwestern U.S.A.	United States	Montana		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Northwestern U.S.A.	United States	Oregon	n.e.	FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Northwestern U.S.A.	United States	Wyoming		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	South-Central U.S.A.	United States	New Mexico		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	South-Central U.S.A.	United States	Texas		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Southeastern U.S.A.	United States	Alabama		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Southeastern U.S.A.	United States	Arkansas		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Southeastern U.S.A.	United States	Florida		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Southeastern U.S.A.	United States	Georgia		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Southeastern U.S.A.	United States	Kentucky		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Southeastern U.S.A.	United States	Louisiana		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Southeastern U.S.A.	United States	Maryland		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Southeastern U.S.A.	United States	Mississippi		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Southeastern U.S.A.	United States	North Carolina		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Southeastern U.S.A.	United States	South Carolina		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Southeastern U.S.A.	United States	Tennessee		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Southeastern U.S.A.	United States	Virginia		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Southwestern U.S.A.	United States	Arizona		FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Southwestern U.S.A.	United States	California	s.	FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Southwestern U.S.A.	United States	Utah	s.w.	FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
1	Native	Northern America	Western Canada	Canada	Alberta	s.e.	FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
5	Uncertain	Southern America	Caribbean	Bermuda			Bothmer, R. von et al. 1982. Revision of the Hordeum pusillum group. Nordic J. Bot. 2:316.

Native
Northern America

WESTERN CANADA: Canada [Alberta (s.e.)]
NORTHEASTERN U.S.A.: United States [Indiana, Michigan (s.), New Jersey, Ohio (s.), Pennsylvania (s.), West Virginia (s.)]
NORTH-CENTRAL U.S.A.: United States [Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota (s.), Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota (s.w.), Oklahoma, South Dakota]
NORTHWESTERN U.S.A.: United States [Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon (n.e.), Wyoming]
SOUTHEASTERN U.S.A.: United States [Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia]
SOUTH-CENTRAL U.S.A.: United States [New Mexico, Texas]
SOUTHWESTERN U.S.A.: United States [Arizona, California (s.), Utah (s.w.)]
NORTHERN MEXICO: Mexico [Baja California (Norte), Chihuahua]

Uncertain
Southern America

CARIBBEAN: Bermuda

Reference(s)

Bothmer, R. von et al. 1982. Revision of the Hordeum pusillum group. Nordic J. Bot. 2:316.
FNA Editorial Committee. 1993-. Flora of North America.
Gould, F. W. & R. Moran. 1981. The grasses of Baja California, Mexico.
Gould, F. W. 1975. The grasses of Texas

Economic Uses

Usage	Type	Note	Reference
Environmental	erosion control	as cover crop	Englert, J. 1999. New and upcoming native grass releases from the Eastern US Plant Materials Centers. In: Ritchie, J. C. et al., eds., Proceedings of the Second Eastern Native Grass Symposium, November 17-19, 1999. Baltimore, Maryland 2:132.
Weed	seed contaminant	potential	Bothmer, R. von & N. Jacobsen. 1985. Origin, taxonomy, and related species. In D. C. Rasmusson, ed., Barley. Agronomy 26:40.

Cite as: USDA, Agricultural Research Service, National Plant Germplasm System. 2026. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN Taxonomy). National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
URL: https://npgstest.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxon/taxonomydetail?id=19322. Accessed 12 May 2026.