3 o8 THE WHEAT PLANT 



absence of it from English herbaria of the seventeenth and eighteenth 

 centuries in which representatives of most of the other races of wheat 

 are found. 



In this species the ears are very short and dense, with stiff glumes 

 and well-filled spikelets closely packed and arranged almost at right 

 angles to the rachis. In some forms the ears are clubbed, the spikelets 

 being more crowded at the apex than the base, a character met with also 

 in T. vulgare. 



These wheats are sometimes termed " Cluster " wheats and " Dwarf " 

 wheats, but the latter name is not particularly appropriate since many 

 of the forms possess tall straw. 



In France the name " He'risson " (Hedgehog) is given to them ; in 

 Germany the beardless forms are designated " Binkel " wheats, the 

 bearded varieties being known as " Igel " wheats. 



Host first gave them specific rank in 1807, and refers to their cultiva- 

 tion in Styria under the name " Binkel." 



The closely packed, short, rigid ear is characteristic, but the morpho- 

 logical features of the leaves, culms, glumes, and grain indicate the closest 

 affinity with T. vulgare. 



When grown from single ears many forms are quite constant ; others, 

 more especially those which possess " clubbed ears," i.e. dense at the 

 apex and laxer at the base, frequently exhibit extensive segregation, lax, 

 intermediate, and dense-eared forms, bearded and beardless with smooth 

 or pubescent chaff, being often found among their descendants. 



The Club wheats are widely distributed at the present day, most 

 frequently mixed with various forms of T. vulgare or among T. durum 

 in Asiatic Russia ; pure crops of them are uncommon except in Central 

 Asia and the Pacific Coast States of North America. 



In Asia they are prevalent in Turkestan and the western provinces of 

 the Transcaucasus and more sparingly in Siberia. I have obtained 

 forms also from China and Manchuria. 



It is somewhat remarkable that true T. compactum, Host, is absent 

 from Persia and India, the examples attributed to this race by Howard 

 belonging to the very distinct race T. sphaerococcum, mihi (see p. 321). 



In Europe they are met with in South-East Russia, Germany, France, 

 Italy, Switzerland, Spain, and Portugal, and were formerly grown in 

 England under the names " Club," " Cluster," or " Thickset " wheats. 

 I have also had specimens from Rhodesia, South Africa. 

 In North America they are cultivated on a somewhat extensive scale 

 in the States of California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. 

 In South America some forms are grown in Chili. 

 Most of the Club wheats resist frost, drought, and fungi well, and 

 grow freely on the poorer classes of soils ; they are chiefly spring forms, 



