1 68 THE WHEAT PLANT 



collected near Smyrna by Sherard, who was British Consul there from 1703 

 to 1718 : they are labelled " Hordeum distichum spica nitida arratis et glumis 

 nigricantibus . Comp. Tab. Bot. 38." 



The following description is from plants grown at Reading, the original ears 

 being sent me from Moscow by Dr. Vavilov : 



The coleoptile is purple. 



The shoots of the young plants are prostrate, the leaves narrow (4-6 mm. 

 broad) and a dark blue-green tint. The leaves are clothed with short velvety 

 hairs, interspersed among which are some 1-1*5 mm - l n g> arranged on the 

 ridges and along the margins as in a, Fig. 1 1 1 . The blade of the upper leaf 

 of the straw is shorter than the sheath. 



The culms at first spread outwards close to the ground, becoming erect later. 

 They possess 4 or 5 internodes and vary much in length on the same plant, some 

 reaching a height of 130-150 cm. (about 50-60 inches), while others are not 

 more than 30-45 cm. (12-18 inches) long. 



The upper internode is solid or hollow with thick walls and of exceptional 

 length, being often as much as 80 cm. long. 



A conspicuous muff of white reflexed hairs surrounds the nodes, below which 

 JT to inch of the straw is brownish. 



The ears without the awns are 9-11 cm. long and "j--8 cm. across the two- 

 rowed side : they possess 28-32 spikelets and are moderately dense (D = 30-32). 



The rachis is smooth, but its edges are fringed with whitish hairs 

 3 mm. long, and there is a frontal tuft about 3 mm. long at the base of each 

 spikelet. 



The spikelets are somewhat larger than those of var. Larionowi, measuring 

 12-14 mm. long and 4 mm. broad. They are two-flowered and usually ripen 

 two grains in each spikelet ; the lower is the smaller grain and germinates 

 more slowly than the upper one or not at all. 



The empty glumes are jet black or more or less covered with dark streaks, 

 and the awns are black. The keel and lateral nerves are scabrid, the keel tooth 

 about 2 mm. long and straight or bent outwards slightly. 



The caryopses are small, narrow, and pointed at both ends, greenish-grey 

 or purplish in colour with flinty endosperm. The smaller ones measure about 

 6 mm. long, 1*3 mm. from side to side, and 1-45 mm. from front to back, the 

 larger ones being 7 mm. long, 1-45 mm. broad, and 1*8 mm. thick ; 100 weigh 

 from i to 1*2 grams. 



T. aegilopoides, var. Larionowi, mihi. 



T. monococcum, var. Larionowi, Flaksb. Bull. App. Bot., Petrograd, vi. p. 681 



A wild form with glabrous yellowish-red glumes and black awns found in 

 1909 by Larionow near Balaklava in the Crimea (3, Fig. 114). 



The following description is from plants grown at Reading : 



The coleoptiles are purplish. The young shoots are prostrate, the foliage 

 leaves dark blue-green, 4-5 mm. broad, with short blades and clothed with soft 

 hairs as in var. Pancici. 



The straws are slender, solid or hollow with thick walls, green or purplish 



