Citation: Link, Linnaea 9:133 (1834-5).

Synonymy: H. murinum L. var. leporinum (Link)Arcang., Comp. Fl. ltal. 805 (1882)i Critesion murinum (L.) Á. Löve subsp. leporinum (Link) Á. Löve, Taxon 29:350 (1980); H. murinum sensu J. Black, Fl. S. Aust. 137 (1943), non L.

Common name: Barley-grass, common foxtail.

Description:
Annual, to 30 cm high, with villous or merely scabrous-ciliate leaf blades and glabrous sheaths, the uppermost sheath swollen.

Spike 3-10 cm long, bristly; central spikelet fertile, its lemma lanceolate, 8-10 mm long, with a straight terminal awn 2-4 cm long, its glumes capillary but slightly widened and more or less channelled and conspicuously ciliate on the lower part; lateral spikelets similar but rather longer and barren, with both glumes capillary all their length, or the inner one widened and ciliate like those of the central spikelet; each lemma (including the awns) is much longer than the glumes (including the awns).

Published illustration: Burbidge (1970) Australian grasses 3:pl. 68.

Distribution:  S.Aust.: LE, NU, GT, FR, EA, EP, NL, MU, YP, SL, KI, SE.   All States.   Native of Europe and Asia, but now introduced into most parts of the world. Conservation status: naturalised Flowering time: erratic but often Sept. — Nov.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: When fruiting each triad of spikelets breaks away and becomes a nuisance to man and beast, the barbellate awns and glumes attaching themselves to anything that passes, and the sharp base (joint or article of the rhachis) acting like the callus of Stipa.

Taxonomic notes: H. glaucum and H. leporinum are recognised here as distinct species, following Cocks, Boyce and Kloot (1976) Aust. J. Bot. 24:651-662; but Booth and Richards (1976) Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 72:149-159 consider them to be conspecific, differing only at subspecific level. H. glaucum is a diploid (2n =14); H. leporinum is a tetraploid (2n = 28) and Á. Löve (1984) treats H. leporinum as a subsp. of Critesion murinum.

Author: Not yet available