THE WHEAT PLANT 



Awned and 

 Awoless. 



TRITICUM 



VULGAR EJ 



Races 



ness of the rachis exists, however, in different degrees, and is correlated with 

 the more or less firm closing of the glumes. Hence he isolates the forms of 



T. mitiritin into : 



Sativum. (A) Rachis articulated at maturity and grain firmly enclosed by the glumes : 



Spelta. (a) spikes loose, almost four-sided = T. xntivutn, uar. ttpettu, and (b) spikes 



very dense, laterally compress = T. untliiim, var. <t ><<< m ( = T. amyieuin, 

 Seringe, also Vilmorin, I.e. 21, tt. 152, 154). Two-grained spelt is grown in 

 certain parts of Southern Europe and is sown in spring. Its grain is used chiefly 

 in the manufacture of starch. 



Both the forms (or groups of forms) thus indicated approximate closely to 

 r. >n<t <>><< a in, however, and according to De Candolle and other writers, 

 that species may be but the ancient form of the spelt wheats (siieitn and 

 <iici><'cui just mentioned). 



Spelt wheat (T. sjteitn, Linn., Vilmorin, I.e. 20, 146, 148, 150) is, in fact, one 

 of the oldest grains, and there are awned and awnless, hairy and glabrous, also 

 white, grey and reddish-coloured forms of it. It was in ancient times the chief 

 grain in Egypt and Greece and was cultivated everywhere throughout the Roman 

 Empire. Its cultivation has been largely discontinued, and, except in Northern 

 Spain, is unimportant in Europe. In India its cultivation is met with from 

 Sind to Mysore, especially in Bombay. Apparently the first definite intimation 

 of the existence of this wheat in India was made by Buchanan-Hamilton, and 

 subsequently by myself in the Journal Royal Agricultural Society of England 

 (1888, xxiv., 36-8). A long and interesting account of it was published by the 

 late Mr. E. C. Ozanne in the Statistical Atlas of Bombay (an account reprinted by 

 Lisboa, List. Bomb. Grass., etc., 1896, 129-30). It is known in India as kaphle 



KapJde. (or khapli), a name which is said to denote the difficulty experienced in separating 



the grain from the husk. It is also called by other names, such as jod, hotte 

 godhi, and pamban. Its value lies very largely in the fact that it is grown during 



Khanf. the kharif season, all the other wheats being rabi crops. Hamilton speaks, how- 



ever, of two seasons of cultivation in Mysore. It can be profitably raised on 

 poor soils, where the other wheats could not be grown. Its demands, says 

 Hackel, are less, its liability to disease lower, and the grain being firmly retained 

 within the glumes, makes it proof against the attacks of birds. According to 

 Hamilton, 't'. IMI <<<! (jave godhi) and T. speita are the two wheats of 

 Mysore, and Mollison, in the opening paragraph of his article on wheat ( Textbook 

 2nd. Agri., 1901, iii., 24), mentions v. nionoenei-mn as a wheat " said to be culti- 

 vated." (See Mysore below, p. 1099). 



Polonicum. In this place it may be useful also to dispose of r. jp/om>mn (Vilmorin, 

 I.e. 20, and t. 144) Polish wheat. It is a very striking species with large com- 

 pressed, mostly bluish-green (glaucous) spikes, readily distinguished by its 

 empty glumes, which may be one inch long and enclose all the flowers of the 

 spikelets. Hackel suspects that it is, perhaps, not a true species, but may have 

 originated by culture. But Poland is, however, by no means its native country. 

 Perhaps Spain, where it is still cultivated on a large scale, has a stronger claim. 

 It is also met with in Italy and Abyssinia, but apparently is not grown in India. 

 It much resembles in its long and slender fruit some of the forms of rye, and is 

 in fact, often sold under the name of Giant Rye. 



This leads now to the consideration of Hackel's group 



Sativum (B) Rachis not articulated at maturity, grain visible between the open fruit 



tenax. glumes and thus readily falling out. This he distinguishes as f. ttatinini, uar. 



tenax, which he further says is referable to four imperfectly characterised races. 

 These may be indicated thus : 



1. Empty glumes distinctly keeled on the upper half, rounded below : 



* Spikes long, more or less loose in T. mitivuin, race vulgare (Vilmorin, 

 I.e. tt. 28-122). 



** Spikes short, dense, distinctly four-sided in T. nuts runt, race compactum. 



2. Empty glumes, sharply keeled at the base : 



*** Fruit short, thick, not compressed in T. mi tit mn race turgidum (Vil- 

 morin, I.e. 18, tt. 28, 130, 132, 134). 



**** Fruit oblong, narrow, somewhat laterally compressed and acute in 

 T. *,nir,,,,,. race durum (Vilmorin, I.e. 19, tt. 136, 138, 140, 142). 



Haces : The race to which Hackel thus restricts the name vulgare embraces numer- 



Vulgare. ous forms, such as awnless and bearded, naked and hairy, white, bluish and 



reddish spikes. It is perhaps one of the oldest of the modern wheats and the 



most valuable in Europe, America, India and Australia. Several hundred forms 



1084 



