330 



CEREAL PLANTS. 



Chap. IX. 



high authority writes in 1855, 19 " We ourselves have no hesitation 

 in stating our conviction, as the result of all the most reliable 

 evidence, that none of these Cerealia exist, or have existed, truly 

 wild in their present state, but that all are cultivated varieties 

 of species now growing in great abundance in S. Europe or W. Asia." 

 On the other hand, Alph. De Candolle 20 has adduced abundant 

 evidence that common wheat (Trtticum vulgare) has been found 

 wild in various parts of Asia, where it is not likely to have escaped 

 from cultivation : and there is some force in M. Godron's remark, 

 that, supposing these plants to be escaped seedlings, 21 as they have 

 propagated themselves in a wild state for several generations, their 

 continued resemblance to cultivated wheat renders it probable that 

 the latter has retained its aboriginal character. But the strong 

 tendency to inheritance, which most of the varieties of wheat evince, 

 as we shall presently see, is here greatly undervalued. Much 

 weight must also be attributed to a remark by Professor Hilde- 

 brand, 22 that when the seeds or fruit of cultivated plants possess 

 qualities disadvantageous to them as a means of distribution, we may 

 feel almost sure that they no longer retain their aboriginal condition. 

 On the other hand, M. l)e Candolle insists strongly on the frequent 

 occurrence in the Austrian dominions of rye and of one kind of oats 

 in an apparently wild condition. With the exception of these two 

 cases, which however are rather doubtful, and with the exception of 

 two forms of wheat and one of barley, which he believes to have been 

 found truly wild, M. De Candolle does not seem fully satisfied with 

 the other reported discoveries of the parent-forms of our other 

 cereals. With respect to oats, according to Mr. Buckmann, 23 the 

 wild English Avtna fatua can be converted by a few years of careful 

 cultivation and selection into forms almost identical with two very 

 distinct cultivated races. The whole subject of the origin and 

 specific distinctness of the various cereal plants is a most difficult 

 one ; but we shall perhaps be able to judge a little better after con- 

 sidering the amount of variation which wheat has undergone. 

 Metzger describes seven species of wheat, Godron refers to five, 



19 Mr. Bentham, in his review, 

 entitled 'Hist. Notes on cultivated 

 Plants,' by Dr. A. Targioni-Tozzetti, 

 in ' Journal of Hort. Soc.,' vol. ix. 

 (1855), p. 133. He informs me that 

 he still retains the same opinion. 



20 ' Ge'ograph. Bot.,' p. 928. The 

 whole subject is discussed with admir- 

 able fulness and knowledge. 



21 Godron, ' De l'Espece,' torn. ii. p. 

 72. A few years ago the excellent, 

 though misinterpreted, observations 

 of M. Fabre led many persons to 

 believe that wheat was a modified 

 descendant of iEgilops ; but M. Godron 



(torn. i. p. 165) has shown by careful 

 experiments that the first step in the 

 series, viz. ^Egilops triticoides, is a 

 hybrid between wheat and jE. ovata. 

 The frequency with which these 

 hybrids spontaneously arise, and the 

 gradual manner in which the JE. 

 triticoides becomes converted into true 

 wheat, alone leave any doubt with 

 respect to M. Godron's conclusions. 



22 ' Die Verbreitungsmittel der 

 Pflanzen, 1873, p. 129. 



23 Report to British Association for 

 1857, p. 207. 



