CULTIVATED GRAINS AND GRASSES 243 



1 . Triticum vulgare, the common wheat as we know it, both 

 bearded and plain, red and white, winter and spring, a type that 

 is very ancient. 



2. Triticum turgidum, or Triticum compositum as it is some- 

 times called, — a branching-headed race passing by the common 

 names of Egyptian wheat, wheat of miracle, or wheat of abun- 

 dance ; not of great antiquity, because old remains are not found 

 and no name exists for it in either Sanskrit, Indian, or Persian. 



3. Triticum durum, or hard wheat, growing plentifully in 

 southern Europe under many names, none of which trace to 

 ancient origin, nor are its remains discovered in antiquity, leav- 

 ing the inference that it was derived from the common wheat, 

 T. vulgare, and at a not distant date. 



4. Triticum polonicum, or Polish wheat, cultivated in the east 

 of Europe. Its original German name is gummer, and its other 

 names are individual or local, not connected with antiquity. 



None of these races is known to grow wild anywhere on earth ; 

 indeed, they would not thrive as feral races, for wheat cannot 

 long maintain itself against weeds and the more vigorous wild 

 competitors. 1 



Besides the true wheats there are three closely related species 

 that may well engage our attention in this connection. These 

 are the common spelt {Triticum spelta), the one-grained wheat 

 {Triticum monococcum), and the twO-grained or starch wheat 

 (Triticum dicocctim), the " emmer " of our own day. 



The spelts stand to wheat much as the so-called husk corn 

 does to common maize ; that is, each kernel is enveloped in a 

 tight-fitting husk or chaff of its own, like oats or rice. All these 

 species were cultivated by the lake dwellers of Switzerland, and 

 common names for these wheatlike grains abound, but they all 

 trace to southern European or western Asiatic sources. 



None of these species is positively known to be growing wild, 

 although different observers have asserted the finding of each. 



1 This has been tried at Rothamsted, and a wheat field left to itself was soon 

 entirely overrun by weeds. 



