16 WHEAT 



FLOWER AND FRUIT 



Wheat flowers have pistils and stamens but no 

 colored showy parts. The stamens and pistils 

 are protected by greatly shortened leaves called 

 glumes or palea. Short spikelets containing one 

 to three small flowers are closely attached to the 

 fruiting stem (rachis) and form a close compact 

 head or spike. It has been found that the anthers 

 shed their pollen and the stigmas become moist 

 before the flowers open, and are thus normally 

 close fertilized. There is probably little or no 

 natural crossing in wheat. Hays found that wheat 

 flowers open and close in the early morning, the 

 operation consuming only twenty to forty min- 

 utes.* 



GERMINATION AND ROOTS 



When the seed sprouts, the shoot grows upwards 

 and forms a second growth of roots that are per- 

 manent, the first set eventually dying. The 

 length of the first shoot varies according to the 

 depth of soil covering. If the seed is covered 

 deeply it will grow to within one to two inches of 

 the surface before forming the permanent roots. 

 Too deep planting may therefore weaken the plant 

 and reduce the growth and yield. The root system 

 of wheat and all other cereals and grasses consists 

 of slender, much-branched rootlets. There is no 

 a tap root. 



*Minnesota Experiment Station Bulletin No. 62. 



