WILD SMALL SPELT 165 



the culm leaves broader (5-15 mm. across), their surfaces in most plants 

 being clothed with soft short hairs, among which are longer hairs sparsely 

 distributed along the summit of the longitudinal ridges (, Fig. in) and 

 on the margins of the leaves. The leaf- 

 sheaths,' which are striate, are pubescent in 

 some cases and glabrous in others. The 

 auricles of the lower leaves are fringed with 



long hairs. 



,, , r . FIG. in. Diagrammatic trans- 



Shooting, OF the escape Ot the ears verse sections of young leaves 



from the upper leaf - sheaths, occurs at of (a) T. aegilopoides, (b) T. 



. monococcum. 



Reading about June 20, in this respect 



resembling the cultivated " Engrain double " (T. monococcum). 



The ears are flat, consisting of two rows of spikelets closely arranged 

 on opposite sides of a flattened and jointed rachis. They are from 5 to n 

 cm. long, '45--9 cm. broad, and -2--25 cm. thick, and possess from 12 to 

 30 or more spikelets. The density (D) or number of spikelets per 10 cm. 

 of rachis varies from 25 to 50, the Asiatic varieties having the laxest ears. 



The rachis is smooth, but its edges are fringed with a line of longer .or 

 shorter hairs, and a tuft of long whitish hairs (from 1-5 to 3 mm. long) 

 is attached to it in front of the base of each spikelet. When ripe it is 

 very brittle, and separates at the joints into short pieces about 3 mm. long 

 and i mm. broad to the upper end of each of which is attached a single 

 spikelet. Disarticulation of the ears proceeds from the tip towards the 

 base, the apical spikelets often falling while the basal ones are still green. 



The terminal spikelet of the ear is abortive. The lateral spikelets 

 are two-flowered, the lower flower fertile, the upper one usually sterile ; 

 they measure about 9 mm. long, 2-2-5 mm - broad, and i mm. thick. 



When two caryopses ripen in the spikelet the upper one is the larger 

 and germinates more rapidly than the lower one, even when both are 

 stripped from their enclosing glumes. 



The glumes are yellowish, reddish, or black, usually pubescent, but 

 in some forms they are glabrous. 



The empty glume (7-8 mm. long) is ovate, the outer half somewhat 

 broad and truncate, with a scabrid keel terminating in a triangular tooth 

 about 1-5-2 mm. long, which is usually bent outwards especially in unripe 

 ears ; it possesses a strong lateral nerve which ends in a small tooth -5 

 mm. long (Fig. 112). 



The flowering glume of the lower flower bears a scabrid awn varying 

 from 6 to 1 1 cm. long, that of the upper flower in robust forms having an 

 awn of similar length, while in smaller forms the glume is awnless or with 

 an awn rarely exceeding 1-2 mm. in length. When young the palea is 

 entire, but in ripe ears it is divided longitudinally into two halves. 



The caryopsis is pointed at both ends, very much laterally compressed, 



