1 84 THE WHEAT PLANT 



Glumes black or striped, glabrous. 



T. dicoccoides, var. spontaneonigrum, mihi (3, Fig. 122). 



T. dicoccum, var. spontaneonigrum, Flaksb. Bull. App. Bot., Petrograd, vii. 



768 (1914)- 



A frequently occurring variety with smooth shining glumes, which are 

 uniformly black or striped, with dark brown lines or spots on a yellowish or 

 reddish- white ground. 



Usually the hairs on the rachis are pale yellow or white, but sometimes the 

 black or deep brown pigment present in the glumes is also found in many of 

 these hairs. 



Glumes black or striped, pubescent. 



T. dicoccoides, var. spontaneovillosum, mihi. 



T. dicoccum, var. spontaneovillosum, Flaksb. Bull. App. Bot., Petrograd, vii. 

 768 (1914). 



This differs only from the previous one in having villose or pubescent glumes. 



All the varieties of T. dicoccoides are found in the neighbourhood of 

 Mount Hermon ; many of them are found also in other parts of Syria 

 and Palestine, and var. Kotschyanum extends to Western Persia, but the 

 distribution of the different varieties is not yet fully known. 



As already mentioned, T. dicoccoides is a well-defined species, commonly 

 self-fertilised, but at the time of anthesis its glumes remain widely separated, 

 with the stigmas exposed for several hours during the day in bright 

 weather, and crossing also occurs among the several varieties. 



In addition natural hybridisation certainly takes place between this 

 species and forms of the cultivated wheats T. durum and T. vulgare ; cross- 

 ing probably occurs with T. aegilopoides and possibly also with Aegilops 

 ovata. 



To such hybridisation is doubtless due the numerous intermediate 

 and extraordinarily diverse forms met with in its native habitat, and 

 among the progeny of plants cultivated at Reading and elsewhere. 



Aegilops ovata is a common indigenous species in the wild wheat 

 region of Palestine, and Cook records the finding of spikelets intermediate 

 between this species and T. dicoccoides, suggestive of a natural hybrid 

 between these two plants. I have not seen these. 



Triticum aegilopoides, var. Thaoudar, is a common wild species, often 

 associated with T. dicoccoides, and Aaronsohn mentions the occurrence 

 of forms morphologically intermediate between the two. I have also 

 observed small plants of T. dicoccoides which in glume characters suggest 

 a relationship with T. aegilopoides. Schulz considers that these are 

 hybrids of the two species, but without further knowledge of the normal 



