CLUB, DWARF, CLUSTER, OR HEDGEHOG WHEAT 309 



many of them exceptionally early ; only a few winter late-ripening forms 

 are known. 



The straw is erect and usually stout, not liable to lodge, though a few 

 forms have soft weak stems. The ears are prolific in number of grains, 

 many of the spikelets ripening three or four each ; the yield in volume 

 or weight per acre is, however, comparatively low as the grains are in- 

 dividually of small size. The grains are firmly held by the glumes, a 

 character which renders these wheats particularly suited to cultivation in 

 districts where it is the practice to leave the crop on the field for some 

 considerable time before the harvesting operations can be completed. 



The grain is soft or of medium hardness, its quality resembling that 

 of the softer varieties of Bread wheat (T. vulgar c). 



GENERAL CHARACTERS OF T. compactum, Host. 



The coleoptiles are pinkish or colourless. 



In the majority of forms the young leaf-blades and shoots are of the 

 erect " spring " habit ; a few are semi-erect, others having the prostrate 

 " winter " habit. 



The leaves are pale yellowish-green or glaucous blue-green, and the sur- 

 faces always more or less hairy, the arrangement of the hairs in most forms 

 resembling that of T. vulgare (Fig. 164) ; a few forms have leaves clothed 

 with soft hairs somewhat similar to those of T. turgidum and 7'. dicoccum. 



The straws are erect, stiff, and generally hollow, with comparatively 

 thin walls, though one or two kinds have solid straws. They possess five 

 or six internodes above ground, and van 1 in height from 93 to 140 cm. 

 (35-55 inches). 



The ears usually make their appearance from the side of the leaf- 

 sheath and not from the apex as in most wheats. They are short, stiff, and 

 compact, beardless or bearded, from 3-5 to 6 cm. in length, the majority 

 being about 5 cm. (2 inches) long with 17 to 25 closely packed spikelets, 

 the density of the ear being 40-50 or more. 



Typical ears are of uniform density and oblong or somewhat oval in 

 outline as viewed from the 2-rowed side ; others, especially those of 

 hybrid origin, are " clubbed," the spikelets being crowded towards the 

 apex and loosely arranged at the base. In section the ears are square or 

 more frequently oblong, the width across the imbricated face beini: 

 usually 10-12 mm., and across the 2-rowed side 13-20 mm. 



The rachis is fringed with short hairs along the side and across tin- 

 upper part of each notch immediately beneath the points of insertion of 

 the spikelets. 



The spikelets possess 6-7 flowers, 3-5 of which frequently produce 

 grain ; they are 10-13 mm. long, 13-15 mm. broad, and about 3 mm. thick. 



The empty glumes are whitish-yellow, red, dark brown or blue-Mack, 



