DESCRIPTIONS OF TRIBES AND GENERA. 



179 



iii the earliest prehistoric times, and appeared in Eastern 

 Europe in the bronze age, as is proven especially by 

 the remains found at Olmtitz. The people of Eastern 

 Europe probably received it from the natives of Southern 

 Russia and Western Asia, who probably were the first 

 to cultivate the plants which grew wild among them. 



285. (268) Triticum L. Spikes with a (rarely aborted) 

 terminal spikelet ; rachis articulate (cultivated forms ex- 

 cepted) ; lowest 1-4 spikelets smaller than the others, 

 awnless, sterile (occasionally fertile in the cultivated 



Fig. 94.— Triticum triunciale Gren. and Go- 

 droD. (After Nees, Gen. Germ., I. 85.) 



Fig. 95. — Triticum sativum Lam. C, 

 Empty glume from the side: CX, 

 from the back. ATI, Fruit from in 

 front; K2, from the back. B, Rachis. 

 (After Nees, Gen. Germ., I. 79.) 



forms). Fertile spikelets inflated or somewhat ventri- 

 cose, 2-5-flowered, ripening only 1-3 fruits. Spikelets, 

 especially the lowest, closely imbricated ; empty glumes 

 broad, always with one to many awns, or at least with a 



