General:
Annual grass from fibrous roots; stems smooth, 20-40 (50) cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths open, smooth; blades usually sparsely stiff-hairy to soft-hairy, mostly 3-4 (5) mm wide; ear-shaped lobes well-developed at most leaf-bases, 1-2 mm long; ligules scarcely 1 mm long.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a spike, 4-7 cm long, well exserted to partially enclosed by the inflated upper sheath, the rachis disarticulating, the segments 1.7-3 mm long; spikelets 3 to a node, all well-developed, the lateral ones short-stalked; glumes of the central spikelets 2-3 cm long, stalked or unstalked, long stiff-hairy basally, central florets slightly shorter to much shorter than the lateral florets; the rachillas prolonged past the florets for 2.5-3.5 mm, bristlelike; anthers 0.4-1.3 mm long.

Notes:
Three subspecies occur in BC:

1. Central spikelet florets unstalked or nearly unstalked, the stalk if present less than 0.5 mm long; inner glumes of the lateral spikelets narrower than either glume of the central spikelets..................... ssp. Murinum

1. Central spikelet florets stalked, the stalks 1-2 mm long; inner glumes of the lateral spikelets as wide as those of the central spikelets.

2. Central florets slightly shorter than the lateral florets; anthers 0.5 mm long or less.................... ssp. glaucum (Steud.) Tzvelev

2. Central florets much shorter than the lateral florets; anthers 0.8-1.3 mm long.................... ssp. leporinum (Link) Asch. & Grabn.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Critesion glaucum (Steud.) A. Löve
Critesion murinum subsp. glaucum (Steud.) W.A. Weber
Hordeum glaucum Steud.
Hordeum stebbinsii Covas