34 



VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



Ear and Plant of Egyptian, or many-spiked Whtat. 



The ear is bearded, and the grains are thinner than 

 those of winter wheat. It is the distinctive peculiarity 

 of this plant that its rachis is branched, so that the 

 ear is made up of several spikelets. Egyptian 

 wheat will bear great degrees of heat and drought 

 without injury, so that it is found to yield abundantly 

 in situations where other kinds would be greatly in- 

 jured, if not destroyed a circumstance which points 

 it out as admirably adapted to the arid lands whereon 

 it is chiefly cultivated. 



POLISH WtiEAT Triticumpolonicum. This va- 

 riety was partially cultivated in England in the latter 

 part of the seventeenth century, but is now to be 

 found here only in botanic gardens. 



