紫大麦草 zi da mai cao

Hordeum sibiricum Roshevitz, Izv. Glavn. Bot. Sada SSSR 28:385. 1929, not Link ex Steudel (1840), nor (Linnaeus) Schenck (1907); Critesion californicum (Covas & Stebbins) A. Löve subsp. sibiricum A. Löve; C. roshevitzii (Bowden) Tzvelev.

Plants perennial, usually laxly tufted. Culms erect, 40–70 cm tall, 3- or 4(–6)-noded, smooth, glabrous. Ligule membranous; auricles usually absent; leaf blade flat, 3.5–15 × 0.3–0.4 cm, both surfaces glabrous but scabrous, epidermis without silica cells. Spike green or purplish green to blackish purple, 5–8 × 0.3–0.6 cm; rachis slightly brittle near base, very brittle distally, margin scabrous to ciliate. Lateral spikelets rudimentary, rarely male; glumes setaceous, 0.5–0.9(–1) cm, scabrous; lemma and palea ca. 4.2 mm; lemma awn ca. 2.3 mm. Central spikelet usually with 1 floret; glumes setaceous, 6–8 mm; lemma lanceolate, 5–7 mm, glabrous, awn (2–)4–8 mm; palea slightly shorter than or equaling lemma. Anthers yellow, 1–1.7 mm. Fl. and fr. Jun–Aug. 2n = 14*, 28.

Alkaline or saline meadows, lake shores, river banks, streamsides, pebbles; 500–3500 m. Gansu, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang [Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Russia].

The record in FRPS (9(3): 28. 1987) of Hordeum violaceum Boissier & Hohenacker, native to SW Asia, is referable to H. roshevitzii.