50 AGRICULTURAL AND BOTANICAL EXPLORATIONS IN PALESTINE. 



Kornicke, as well as Schweinfurth and Ascherson, has always 



thought that the cultivation of wheat originated in western Asia in 

 the region of the Euphrates. A. de Candolle also reached the same 

 conclusion nearly thirty years ago as a result of his study upon the 

 origin of cultivated plants. We take pleasure in quoting him : " The 

 Euphrates Valley lying nearly in the middle of the belt of cultiva- 

 tion which formerly extended from China to the Canaries, it is ex- 

 tremely probable that this valley was the principal habitation of the 

 species in very early prehistoric times. The area may have extended 

 toward Syria, as the climate is very similar, but to the east and west 

 of western Asia wheat has probably never existed but as a cultivated 

 plant, anterior, it is true, to all known civilization.' 1 



The most recent theory — that claiming that the cultivation of 

 cereals originated in Europe — has been discussed elsewhere, and it 

 hardly seems worth while to bring it up again. No naturalist will 

 agree with Much, Hoops, and the other supporters of this hypothesis. 



SUMMARY OF STUDIES OF THE WILD CEREALS. 



I may say as a summary of the result of my invest igat ions— 



(1) i have fully confirmed the opinion of Kornicke, who was the 

 first to assert that the specimen collected by Kotschy was a wild 

 emmer, named by him Triticum vulgare {dicoccum] dicoccoides. 

 This Triticum is a native of southern Syria and is the prototype of 

 our cultivated wheats, or at least one of the oldest forms derived 

 from such a prototype. 



(2) I have shown that Triticum monococcum aegilipoldcx, as well 

 as Secede montanum, is indigenous to the region of Mount Her- 

 mon and that rye (Secede cereale) occurs in the Orient, where it was 

 thought to be entirely unknown. 



(3) I have found forms morphologically intermediate between 

 Triticum dicoccum dicoccoides and T. monococcum aegilipoides. 

 Experiments in crossing, which are to be made later, will show 

 whether these forms are only morphologically intermediate or 

 whether they have closer sexual affinities than those which exist 

 between the cultivated forms of Triticum dicoccum and T. mono- 

 coccum. 



(4) I have collected certain forms of Triticum dicoccum dicoccoi- 

 des in which the development of the glumes and the whole appear- 

 ance of the head recall Triticum polonicum. 



(5) We have seen that Eordeum spontaneum is a satellite, so to 

 speak, of Triticum dicoccum dicoccoides, and that the cultivation of 

 the two species may have been begun at the same time. 



Aaronsohn, A. Contribution a I'Histoire des Cereales. Bulletin de la 

 Soci§t€ Botanique de France. March-April, 1909. 

 180 



