CHAPTER XV 



MACARONI WHEAT 



Triticum durum, Desf. Fl. Atlant. i. 114 (1798). 



T. sativum, y, durum, Pers. Syn. PI. i. 109 (1805). 



T. vulgar e durum, Alef. Landw. Fl. 324 (1866). 



T. sativum durum, Hackel. Nat. Pfl. ii. 2, 85 (1887). 



T. tenax, B. II., durum, Asch. und Graeb. Syn. ii. 692 (1901). 



T. alatum, Peterm. in Flora, xxvii. 234 (1844) is often given as a synonym 

 of T. durum, although Petermann specifically states that it is different from T. 

 durum ; it has some characters of T. turgidum, and its place cannot be deter- 

 mined at present. 



MACARONI Wheat is frequently named Hard Wheat on account of the 

 hard flinty nature of its grain ; as the term " hard " is, however, often 

 applied in the cereal markets to samples of North American Bread Wheats 

 ( T. vulgare), it is advisable to use the name Macaroni Wheat for this race. 



No authenticated specimens of ears or grain of T. durum of prehistoric 

 age are known, and there are no trustworthy data regarding its cultivation 

 in early historic times. 



Grains discovered by Schliemann in a " pithos " when excavating 

 the walls of Hissarlik have been referred to T. durum by Wittmack and 

 Kornicke. Seringe states that grains of this race have been obtained 

 from the wrappings of Egyptian mummies ; these were probably modern 

 and accidentally or fraudulently introduced. 



In excavations of the cemetery at Hawara in Egypt Professor Flinders 

 Petrie found a number of w T ell-preserved ears and grains of wheat in a 

 grave of the Graeco-Roman period dating from about the first century 

 B.C. Examples of these in the British Museum (Nat. Hist. Dept.) closely 

 resemble forms of T. durum, some of them with glabrous, others with 

 pubescent glumes, strongly keeled to the base ; the grains are small and 

 plump, with pointed base, narrowed apex, and high dorsal ridge, the 

 average dimensions being 7-1 mm. long, 3-1 mm. broad, and 3-25 mm. 

 thick. 



Ears with keeled pubescent glumes and grains resembling those of 



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