Its naked prol. grandiuscula Malz. is sometimes grown 
in Europe and North America. 
The so-called 4. orientalis Schreber is any form of A. 
sativa with a condensed, one-sided panicle, a not infre- 
quent variation. 
The similarity between the ranges of A. fatua and A. 
sativa, which extends to the subspecies, suggests a close 
relationship between the two, as does the parallel varia- 
tion of the subspecies. The morphology of the spikelets 
of the two species also suggests a relationship, for with 4. 
sativa, when the upper florets are separated by fracture 
of the rachilla, the rachilla segment remains attached to 
the lower floret exactly as with A. fatua, and different 
from A. sterilis and A. byzantina where the rachilla seg- 
ment remains attached to the upper floret. These similar- 
ities have previously been interpreted as indicating that 
A. sativa arose from A. fatua, but Coffman (1946) has 
suggested the reverse might be true. Vavilov(1950) placed 
the center of origin of A. sativa in the Near East region. 
Conclusions 
From the foregoing discussion it seems clear that the 
diploid species, with the notable exception of A. strigosa, 
have limited ranges in the Mediterranean region, a few 
also extending into the Near East. The tetraploids oc- 
cupy the same general area as the diploids, but are better 
represented in the Near East. A. Vaviloviana and A. 
abyssinica, however, are somewhat isolated to the south. 
The hexaploids A. stertls and A. byzantina are largely 
restricted to the Mediterranean and Near East regions, 
while A. fatua and A. sativa extend from those regions 
far to the north and northeast. 
It is also clear that phylogenetic studies have reached 
an unanimous conclusion on the derivation of the culti- 
vated species only in the case of 4. byzantina. The inter- 
relationships among the wild species are equally obscure. 
[ 279 ] 
