I 



THE CEREAL FRUITS 169 



veined leaves, possess a fibrous root system which often forms a 

 matted mass, and develop a highly specialized type of wind- 

 pollinated flower known as the spikelet which lacks colored 

 petals and sepals and which produces a caryopsis fruit. Cereals 

 thrive in regions where there is too little rainfall for woody plants 

 and forest crops. They also grow in a wide range of climate; the 

 cooler temperate regions are suitable to barley and rye, the 

 warmer temperate regions to wheat, and the tropics to maize 

 and rice. Since prehistoric times cereals have been such impor- 

 tant food plants that they have figured largely in primitive 

 religious festivals. The ease of planting and cultivating the crop, 

 added to the keeping qualities and facility of transportation of 

 the grain, have made cereals the ideal food plants on all conti- 

 nents for all races of man. The grains are very nutritious, being 

 composed of a greater percentage of carbohydrates than any 

 other plant food, at the same time containing proteins, fats 

 and vitamins. 



Wheat 



Wheat is an annual grass which has been cultivated for such 

 a long time that its wild prototype and ancestral home are a 

 matter of conjecture. Wheat was grown in China in 2700 B.C., 

 and by the lake dwellers of Switzerland during the Stone Age; 

 it was also grown by all the early civilized races in the Mediter- 

 ranean region, at least 4000 B.C. A species which resembles 

 closely the possible wild type, known as emmer wheat, grows 

 in Syria and Palestine; this is produced as a stock food in some 

 of our western states, since it grows well even in dry mountainous 

 regions. The original home may have been on the plateaus of 

 central Asia. Wheat was brought to Mexico in 1529 by the 

 Spaniards and to New England by the English in 1602. 



The spikelets of wheat are clustered in groups of fifteen to 

 twenty on a zig-zag axis, forming an elongated terminal spike. 

 After pollination each spikelet produces the grains, or fruit. 

 Each grain is elliptical in shape and cream, red or purple in 

 color. The fruit and the seed coats form the husk or bran, which 

 is particularly rich in proteins. The remainder of the grain is 



