POLISH WHEAT 231 



From its first appearance it seems to have been grown in Botanic 

 Gardens throughout Europe, and Haller in 1768 (Stirp, ind. Helv. ii. 209) 

 says it was cultivated in Thuringia and in small amount in Switzerland. 



Although the name " Polish " is associated with it in almost all the 

 countries in which it is found, the origin of the name and the early con- 

 nection of the wheat with Poland is obscure. Seringe (Cer. eur. 182) 

 states that in 1816 and 1817 sixty vessels laden with this wheat arrived in 

 France from Dantzig, and concludes that it was cultivated on a large scale 

 in some of the northern countries. I have, however, discovered no 

 satisfactory evidence of its growth in Poland before 1870 (Rostafinski, 

 Fl. Poloniae prodromus, 26 (1873)). 



Polish wheat is a delicate spring cereal, and requires a hot climate and 

 fertile soil for satisfactory growth. In damp seasons at Reading it is 

 almost completely sterile and in the best years there gives only poor yields 

 of grain ; the anthers frequently remain very small and shrivel, the fila- 

 ments not elongating as in the other wheats. It is nowhere prolific and its 

 cultivation is of little importance, since it possesses no qualities which 

 are not found in greater degree in T. durum. 



Small isolated areas are grown in several countries bordering the 

 Mediterranean, more especially in Algeria, Spain, and Italy, where its 

 grain is employed in the manufacture of macaroni. Schimper found it 

 in Abyssinia with the native name " Fellasito," and I have had samples 

 of it from Idaho, U.S. A., and from Argentina under the name " Trigo 

 Chile de fideos." Flaksberger informs me that it is not found as a field 

 crop in European Russia or Siberia, but is cultivated on a small scale in 

 the Heyrabad district in Turkestan, where it is considered to be of Siberian 

 origin. 



To Polish wheat various names have been given, such as Siberian, 

 Astrakhan, Mogadur, Surinam, and Chinese wheats. In outline the long 

 narrow grain somewhat resembles a grain of rye, and with a specimen in 

 the Herbarium at Kew is the record of 4 acres grown in Essex in 1858 and 

 described by Dickson & Sons as " Giant Rye." 



Kornicke states that a sample was sent to the Vienna Exhibition 

 (? date) as Montana Rye from the United States, and that two samples 

 obtained first and second prize as Rye at the Denver Exhibition, U.S.A., 

 of 1882. 



GENERAL CHARACTERS OF T. polonicum, L. 



The typical form of T. polonicum is strikingly different from all other 

 wheats in possessing large ears with long, narrow, empty glumes of a 

 glaucous hue, which extend beyond the rest of the spikelet. 



It is one of the tallest w r heats, its culms usually reaching a height of 

 140-160 cm. (about 55-60 inches). These generally have 5 internodes 



