California Barley

Hordeum brachyantherum

Cool season, tufted, perennial bunchgrass is moderately alkaline and saline tolerant, and broadly adapted to various soils types. Best adapted to moist sites and tolerant of periods of shallow standing water, but is also summer-drought tolerant. Typically medium-lived but short-lived on drier sites. Excellent seedling vigor and quick growth. Important species to riparian areas, wetlands, meadows, forest openings, salt marshes and ocean beaches from sea level up to 11,000 ft. elevation. Rarely dominates, eventually yielding to longer-lived, more persistent species. Useful as a quick cover and nurse crop in habitat restoration mixes. Palatable to herbivores in the spring and can be used in dryland pasture at high elevations.