Hordeum marinumHuds.

seaside barley

WFO wfo-0000874872 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Hordeum marinum, photographed by Ken-ichi Ueda
fig. a Ken-ichi Ueda, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-14 / obs. 197677684

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
Smithsonian, US National Herbarium
Accession
US 3423237
Filed as
Hordeum marinum Huds.
Det. by
Cope, T. A.
Collected
P. M. Peterson, R. J. Soreng & G. Rosenberg 1998-10-30
Origin
AU
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC0 1.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 54 botanical countries

Regions where Hordeum marinum is native: Algeria, Azores, Canary Is., Egypt, Libya, Madeira, Morocco, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Kuwait, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sinai, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Albania, Austria, Baleares, Baltic States, Belgium, Bulgaria, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Netherlands, NW. Balkan Pen., Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AlgeriaEgyptLibyaMoroccoTunisiaAfghanistanCyprusEast Aegean Is.IranIraqKazakhstanKirgizstanKuwaitLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusPalestineSaudi ArabiaSinaiTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanUzbekistanPakistanWest HimalayaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelgiumBulgariaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKritiKrymNetherlandsNW. Balkan Pen.PortugalRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine AzoresCanary Is.MadeiraBalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Hordeum marinum, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baleares BAL
Baltic States BLT
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Cyprus CYP
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Kuwait KUW
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Sinai SIN
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Uzbekistan UZB
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Azores AZO
Canary Is. CNY
Egypt EGY
Libya LBY
Madeira MDR
Morocco MOR
Tunisia TUN
Pakistan PAK ASIA-TROPICAL
West Himalaya WHM

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 498 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -2.9 °C 5.0 °C 10.1 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 18.7 °C 26.1 °C 34.0 °C
Annual rainfall 314 mm 647 mm 1,333 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 4 mm 12 mm 166 mm

It is found where winters bring light frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 498 research-grade observations of Hordeum marinum that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 43 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Critesion geniculatum (All.) Á.Löve
  • Critesion hystrix (Roth) Á.Löve
  • Critesion marinum (Huds.) Á.Löve
  • Critesion marinum subsp. gussoneanum (Parl.) Barkworth & D.R.Dewey
  • Critesion marinum var. pubescens (Guss.) J.Blanco & F.M.Vázquez
  • Hordeum berteroanum É.Desv.
  • Hordeum berteroanum var. pumila E.Desv.
  • Hordeum berteroanum var. pumilum É.Desv.
  • Hordeum caudatum Jaaska
  • Hordeum geniculatum All.
  • Hordeum geniculatum f. hirtellum (Degen ex Nevski) Bowden
  • Hordeum gussoneanum Parl. ex Nyman
  • Hordeum gussoneanum Parl.
  • Hordeum gussoneanum var. asperum Simonk.
  • Hordeum gussoneanum var. uniflorum Lojac.
  • Hordeum hystrix Roth
  • Hordeum hystrix f. apterum Soó
  • Hordeum hystrix f. decumbens P.Silva
  • Hordeum hystrix f. hirtellum (Degen ex Asch. & Graebn.) Soó
  • Hordeum marinum var. gussoneanum (Parl.) Täckh. & G.Täckh.
  • Hordeum marinum var. hirtellum Degen ex Nevski
  • Hordeum marinum var. pubescens (Guss.) Nevski
  • Hordeum maritimum Stokes
  • Hordeum maritimum f. hirtellum Asch. & Graebn.

and 19 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.