Hordeum Jubatum Grass #1

This piece has been featured in the FAA Group, Artist News.... more

by J McCombie

Title

Hordeum Jubatum Grass #1

Artist

J McCombie

Medium

Photograph - Untouched

Description

This piece has been featured in the FAA Group, "Artist News".
If you like native ornamental grasses, try growing Foxtail Barley grass (of the grass family Poaceae). It is also commonly called Squirrel Tail Grass, and it prefers full sun and moist to dry conditions. In the wild, Hordeum jubatum Foxtail Barley can be found growing along the edges of marshes, poorly drained fields, pastures, and gravelly areas along roads and railroads. It even tolerates salt, but it cannot compete well with taller vegetation. Hordeum jubatum has gained popularity as an ornamental grass because of its highly attractive flower heads.
Ornamental Grass Hordeum jubatum produces bushy clumps of green, sword-like foliage are quickly topped by green, silvery-pink and even purplish, feathery plumes which 'glisten' as they wave in a breeze. Superb as a feature plant in a container or added to borders. Ideal for: patio, cottage, cut flowr and coastal gardens.
This short-lived hardy annual or perennial grass is about 1-2' tall and usually tufted at the base, otherwise it is unbranched. The culms are light green to reddish green, terete, and glabrous. After flowering, the bristles frizz up, and the flower heads dry to a bleached tan and disintegrate easily. Alternate leaves are produced sparingly along each culm. The leaf blades are up to 4￿" long and 5 mm. across; they are light green to pale bluish green, hairless, and erect to ascending. The leaf sheaths are light green to pale reddish green, hairless, and longitudinally veined. The nodes are slightly swollen and reddish to slightly sunken and brown. The ligules are white-membranous.
Foxtail barley is a prolific seed producer, with each plant capable of producing upwards of 200 seeds. Seeds are elliptical, yellowish-brown and about a ￿ inch long with four to eight awns. The seeds have sharp, backwards pointing barbs. Seed is dispersed by wind, machinery and animals and germinates in the cooler temperatures of the spring or fall. Seed germinating in the fall can overwinter and resume growth in early spring, giving Foxtail barley a competitive advantage over many crops.
While Foxtail barley may be palatable for animals in early spring before it flowers, its seed heads, when dry, are very harmful to grazing animals. The awns with upward-pointing barbs become easily attached and embedded in the animal's mouth and face, causing severe irritation, abscesses, and even blindness.

Uploaded

July 8th, 2014