WHEAT 29 



toward " lodging," which in turn interferes with the har- 

 vest and makes the crop more subject to rust attacks. 

 A natural corrective of lodging is the ability of the plant 

 to arise by bending upward at the node next above the 

 break or " crinkle," producing a swollen " elbow joint." l 

 Weakness of the stem is sometimes a varietal character- 

 istic to be avoided by the grower. 



32. Leaves. Wheat and rye leaves are similar, but 

 are usually narrower than the leaves of oats and barley. 

 They vary greatly in their dimensions and even in the 

 shade of color, and in texture, in different varieties, and 

 are of considerable importance in classification. The 

 leaves of the seedling present especially interesting char- 

 acteristics, which in many instances distinguish subspecies 

 and other smaller divisions. WTieat and other cereals 

 may be partially distinguished from each other in the 

 seedling stage by the auricle (see 3), or clasp, as follows : 



1. Auricle present. 



a. auricle very small, Rye. 



b. auricle large, Barley. 



c. auricle intermediate and sometimes with hairs on outer 



margin, Wheat. 

 2. Auricle absent, Oats 



.a 



In hardy winter seedlings, the leaves are narrow and 

 usually dark green or at first purplish near the roots. 

 They soon spread out flat on the ground in preparation for 

 the snow and cold winter. Spring varieties, and most 

 durum and poulard wheats, grow erect quickly and 

 have coarse light green leaves. Ligules short, truncate, 

 with extremely short triangular teeth or only very 



1 "Crinkle- joint" or "break-over" disease is a special case of 

 crinkling caused by the presence of one of the imperfect fungi 

 (Bolley, 1913, pp. 22-23). 



