Japanese name: オオムギ（大麦） Scientific name:Hordeum vulgare
[Overview]
An autumn-sown annual or winter annual that has long been cultivated in many regions.
It has no rhizome.
It grows about 0.6–1.2 m tall; the stems grow in clumps, are erect and hollow, with long internodes.
The leaves are simple and alternate, long lanceolate to linear, 8–18 cm long, and the leaf sheaths are hairless and clasp the stem.
A spike-like flower head emerges at the stem tip, with three spikelets densely borne alternately on the left and right at each node; each spikelet consists of one floret, and the lemma has a long, straight awn.
According to the shape of the spike, it is divided into two-rowed barley, four-rowed barley, six-rowed barley and so on.
[Uses]
It is used as food, as a raw material for aojiru (green juice), as fodder and as green manure, and also as a raw material for beer, shochu (Japanese distilled spirit), soy sauce, miso and more.
It is also used medicinally.
