328 



THE WHEAT PLANT 



grain in the husk as thrashed, (2) the true grains or caryopses, (3) straw, 

 and (4) chaff of Dinkel and Bread Wheat is given by Wolff : 



The grain has a thinner .pericarp than wheat and yields less bran. 

 Spelt flour has less sugar and dextrin and a correspondingly higher 

 starch content than that of Bread Wheat, the nitrogen -content being 

 similar in both cereals. 



GENERAL CHARACTERS OF T. Spelta, L. 



T. Spelta is one of the most distinct of the cultivated wheats, having 

 a characteristic lax ear and a broad truncate empty glume the lateral 

 nerve of which ends in a blunt secondary tooth some distance away from 

 the keel tooth. 



The leaves of the young plants of autumn and early spring are dark 

 green, and except in the case of a black-bearded form (var. coeruleum) 

 lie close to the ground ; they are not much more than about half the 

 width of those of T. dicoccum of the same age, being only 3 to 4 mm. 

 across. The older culm leaves, however, are broader than those of 

 T. dicoccum. They are comparatively smooth, there being in most 

 varieties only a row of long hairs on the summit and a few smaller ones 

 on the flanks of the longitudinal ridges of the leaves, as in T. vulgar e 

 (Fig. 164). 



The straw is erect, harder and stiffer than that of Bread Wheat, from 

 100 to 120 cm. (40-48 inches) high and hollow, with thin walls. 



The blades of the upper leaves of the straw are from 12 to 20 mm. 

 across, pale greenish-yellow, almost glabrous ; the auricles are very large 

 and more or less fringed with long hairs. 



The ears are straight or slightly curved, white, red, grey-blue or 

 blue-black, and bearded or beardless, relatively long and lax, the spikelets 

 being generally well separated from each other on the rachis. 



They are usually from 10 to 15 cm. (4-6 inches) long, and square or 

 oblong in section. Each ear possesses from 16 to 23 spikelets, the 

 density (D) being 15 to 22. 



