SPELT OR DINKEL 329 



The notched rachis, which is easily seen between the spikelets, is 

 smooth with more or less hairy margins, the frontal tuft being very small 

 or absent. It is convex on one side, and flat or slightly concave on the 

 other. It is also brittle, breaking into short pieces each 5-6 mm. long, 

 narrow and thin at the base, becoming much thicker and wider at the 

 apex. 



The rachis at the point of attachment of each spikelet is broad and 

 often hollow and weak, and when thrashed breaks transversely at this 

 point more easily than at the narrow basal portion of the rachis internode, 

 which is the natural point of disarticulation so clearly seen in the fragile 

 ears of the wild wheats, and the cultivated T. monococcum and T. dicoccum. 

 In thrashed samples of T. Spelta each separate spikelet generally carries 

 with it the internodal portion above its point of insertion, whereas in 



T. dicoccum and other fragile-eared 

 wheats the internode below it is 

 found attached to the thrashed 

 spikelet (Fig. 207). 



Although the axis is fragile as 



FlG. 207. Spikclets (" Yetcn ") of thrashed "* 



ear of T. fiitftfcum (upper row) and 7'. FIG. 208. Empty ulumet of Spelt wheat 

 Sfxlta (lowet row) (nat. sire). (T. Sftella) ( * 2). 



indicated it resists disarticulation proper, and on this account I include- 

 this wheat among the tough-eared races. 



The spikelets are oval, convex in section, each consisting of 3 or 4 

 flowers, two of which generally produce well-developed grains, except in 

 the case of 4 or 5 of the upper spikelets, which often ripen only one grain 

 each ; occasionally the central spikelets contain three grains. 



The empty glumes are half boat-shaped, with a broad truncate apex 

 and n nerves (Fig. 208). The narrow margins are membranous, the 

 broad outer part strong and coriaceous with 6 or 7 nerves, the narrow inner 

 side possessing only i or 2. The keel, which is less prominent than in 

 T. dicoccum, ends in a short blunt tooth. The strong lateral nerve of the 

 glume ends in a blunt projection, which is always much farther auay 

 from the base of the apical tooth than is the corresponding secondary 

 tooth in T. dicoccum, T. turgidutn, or '/'. durum. 



