112 Transformation of ^"^gilops into Wheat. 



Adolphe Brongniart, who bad seen them in a young state at 

 Besan^on ; and this distinguished naturalist, who has investigated 

 so successfully the fei'tilization of plants, was good enough to 

 make a verbal report, on the occasion of presenting them to the 

 Institute, in which he stated that he considered the hybrid 

 nature of ^^gilops triticoides proved. 



Now, from the examination of these products it follows, with 

 the greatest evidence : 1, that from the same spike of yEgilops 

 ovafa have originated plants of this plant and plants of jEgiloj)^ 

 triticoides ; 2, that the spikes of JErjilops ovata fertilized by 

 Triticum vulgarc harhatum have given birth to JEgilops triti- 

 coides furnished with long beards, such as Requien observed ; 

 and 3, that from JEgilops ovata fertilized by beardless wheat, 

 originated an j:^gilops triticoides possessing veiy short awns. 

 This last form, perfectly distinct from the preceding, of which 

 M. Jordan does not speak, is wild, and even tolerably common 

 at Montpellier ; it is conformable to the specimens which \ 

 obtained I)y artificial fertilization. 



These facts — to my eyes so precise and conclusive that if they 

 be not admitted we must also deny the experimens of Koel- 

 renter, of Gaertner, &c — excite doubt and even incredulity in 

 the mind of M. Jordan.* It would have been easy, however, for 

 this industrious naturalist to verify them, by repeating my trials 

 of artificial fertilization; he would then have pronounced judg- 

 ment with full knowledge of the case. 



Accoi'ding to him, yEgilojis triticoides, whether regarded as a 

 hybrid — and he still doubts if it be really one — or of some dif- 

 ferent origin, is but a simple malformation of zEgilojts ovcda. 



Let us examine first the second supposition ; we will return to 

 the other afterwards. 



If JEgilops triticoides is a malformation of yEgi/ops ovafa, 

 without intervention of foreign pollen, this is a serious fact for 

 the doctrines of M. Jordan and for those of all the botanists who, 

 like him, suppose the immutability of species, not only wild but 

 even of cultivated species. Look at the differences which separate 

 j^gilops triticoides from JEgilops ovata. Without dwelling on the 

 characters derived from the organs of vegetation, the spike has a 

 very different general form in the two plants; so different that this 

 character alone suliices to distinguish them at the first glance, 

 and that probably no person has ever confounded them. The 

 plant of Requien, moreover, possesses much more numerous 

 spikelets. The valves of the glume of jEgilops ovata are regu- 

 larly rounded on the back, and the principal nerves, whicli 



* ' Memoire surl'-EgilofStriticoidts.' Ann. des Sc. Nat., 4 scr. Botanique, t. Iv, 

 p. 298. 



