Are Hordeum brachyantherum and H. californicum (Triticeae: Poaceae) conspecific?

Abstract

Justifications for recognizing H. brachyantherum Nevski and H. californicum Covas as separate species are provided from multivariate morphometric analyses and from lodicule and epiblast characters. Although the range of variation of the latter species is included in the range of the former for most morphometric characters, the two are distinct when all of the characters are in multivariate space. Furthermore, H. brachyantherum is allotetraploid (2n = 4X = 28) and H. californicum is diploid (2n = 2X = 14) as previously reported. Identification to species can be done with a high degree of accuracy by means of the linear classification function coefficients, which after cross validation using the bootstrap method, has been found to be reliable, by the lodicules and epiblasts, or more conclusively by the chromosome number.