Poaceae FAMILY

Hordeum deficiens

Edibility

3/5

Medicinal

0/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitAnnual

Growth—

Succeeds in most soils^[1]. Easily grown in light soils^[2]. A two-rowed species, it is occasionally cultivated in Arabia and Ethiopia for its edible seed^{[3, 4, 5]}.

Propagation

Seed - sow in situ in early spring or early autumn and only just cover the seed. Make sure the soil surface does not dry out if the weather is dry. Germination takes place within 2 weeks. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Hordeum+deficiens>

Pollinators

Wind

References

[1]Economic Botany. — Hill. A. F. · The Maple Press · 1952 · ISBN - ↩︎Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some detail about the plants it does cover.
[2]Ornamental Grasses. — Grounds. R. · Christopher Helm · 1989 · ISBN 0-7470-1219-9 ↩︎Cultivation details of many of the grasses and bamboos. Well illustrated.
[3]Plants for Man. — Schery. R. W. ↩︎Fairly readable but not very comprehensive. Deals with plants from around the world.
[4]Tanaka's Cyclopedia of Edible Plants of the World. — Tanaka. T. & Nakao S. · Keigaku Publishing; Tokyo · 1976 · ISBN - ↩︎The most comprehensive list of edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.
[5]Discovering Wild Plants - Alaska, W. Canada and the Northwest. — Schofield. J. J. · Alaska Northwest Books; Alaska · 2003 · ISBN 0882403699 ↩︎A nice guide to some useful plants in that area.
[6]Alternative Enterprises for Agriculture in the UK. — Carruthers. S. P. (Editor) · Centre for Agricultural Strategy, Univ. of Reading · 1986 · ISBN 0704909820 ↩︎Some suggested alternative commercial crops for Britain. Readable. Produced by a University study group.