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Glite Dictionary
Hordeum pusillum

Hordeum pusillum

9.9
A barley plant that lives one year and grows in western North America, the southern United States and tropical America
  • noun
  • Specialized
translation icon : cebada pequeña
  • Botanists have documented the spread of Hordeum pusillum in disturbed soils.

Examples

  • Farmers sometimes encounter Hordeum pusillum as a wild barley species among other grasses.

  • Hordeum pusillum is often found in prairies and open fields throughout the southern United States.

  • The Hordeum pusillum thrives in dry conditions.

  • Many farmers in Texas grow Hordeum pusillum for its hardiness.

  • Hordeum pusillum is often found in prairies and open fields throughout the southern United States.

  • Farmers sometimes encounter Hordeum pusillum as a wild barley species among other grasses.

  • The Hordeum pusillum thrives in dry conditions.

Synonyms

little barley
vsHordeum pusillum
  • US
8.4

A small wild grass like barley that grows in fields and along roads

is the formal scientific Latin name used in taxonomy

Surface Forms

Hordeum pusillum singular
Hordeum pusillums plural

Morphology

Hordeum + pusillum

This is a Latin binomial combining genus + specific epithet, so the meaning is partly compositional: 'Hordeum' denotes the barley genus and if one knew that 'pusillum' means 'very small' one could infer 'a small species of Hordeum'. However, the epithet 'pusillum' is Latin and not a standard English word (and is undefined here), and recognizing/specifying scientific names requires specialized knowledge, so the item is only partially transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Hordeum pusillum comes from Latin words that describe the plant. Hordeum means 'barley' and pusillum means 'very small', so the name is like 'little barley', which explains why it refers to a tiny wild barley species.