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Barley🌾
Hordeum vulgare
オオムギ
An annual grass used to produce barley tea, mixed grain rice, miso, beer, and whisky. More cold- and drought-tolerant than wheat, the practice of 'mugi-fumi' (treading barley seedlings) has been a traditional spring scene in Japan. Pressed barley mixed with white rice has recently regained attention as a dietary fiber supplement.
Identification Points
- ✓Spike is erect with densely arranged spikelets (distinguished as two-row or six-row types)
- ✓Long awns extend from the spike tips
- ✓Large auricles clasp the stem
- ✓Stem is hollow with conspicuous nodes
Habitat
Fields and farmland
Season
Autumn sowing: October–November, harvest the following May–June
3D Specimen Model
Kyushu University, Shikano Lab (CC0)
View on Sketchfab→Morphological TraitsAI-estimated, needs verification
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf type
Simple
Venation
Parallel
Leaf margin
Entire
Leaf shape
Linear
Growth form
Herb
Petal fusion
No petals
Habitat
Cultivated
Leaf dissection
Undivided
Ovary position
Superior
Phylogenetic Positionイネ科 →
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Monocots > Commelinids > Poales > Poaceae
Divergence Era
Late Cretaceous to Paleogene (approx. 80–70 million years ago)
Evolution Notes
Barley is one of the oldest domesticated cereals, first cultivated approximately 10,000 years ago in the Middle East. Two-row and six-row barley diverged during the course of domestication.
View on evolution timeline →Sources & References
AI-generated, needs verification