As an acupuncturist, I know of this plant from a medicinal perspective; the chinese name is yi yi ren, and it definitely looks like barley. I've thought about trying to brew with it before, but from what I've been able to find about it, it's more of a seed than a grain and has a pretty high fat content. Still, a local health food store sells it in bulk, I'm kind of mad at myself for not experimenting with it. It's readily available in most Chinatown herb markets, because it is a very popular medicinal herb, but the problem with the medicinal stuff is that it's almost always sulfured, which will certainly cause off-flavors. I will definitely make a point of trying it with some added enzymes soon, though...probably just a 1-gallon batch, but I've been curious for quite a while. I know of no one who has actually tried it in beer, or investigated its properties when malted.