This is a very common grass which finds its way onto roadside verges, waste places and even cracks in the pavement. It looks like a small version of a Barley crop, usually not growing much more than 0.5 m in height. The name causes confusion because the "murinum" part sounds like a corruption of the Latin word for Wall and that it should be corrected to muralis or murale. Actually it is correct and the English name in the USA is often quoted as Mouse Barley the Latin name of which would indeed be Hordeum murinum.
Frodsham marshes 4th October 2004
Previous Plant in Latin Index Latin Index English Index Home Page Next Plant in Latin Index
Added on November 2nd 2005