33 



THE WHEAT PLANT 



The flowering glume is boat-shaped and comparatively thin, with 

 9-11 nerves and no distinct keel. In some varieties it terminates in a 

 short claw-like projection 2-5 mm. long, in others in a scabrid stiff awn 

 6-8 cm. long ; sometimes the flowering glume of the 

 third imperfect flower bears a short awn 2 cm. long. 



The palea is about as long A. 



as the flowering glume, oval, 

 blunt, and bicarinate, the two ^ A 



keels being fringed with short 

 hairs. 



The caryopses, which usually 

 have flinty endosperm, are red- 

 dish, long and pointed at both 

 ends, the apex covered with a 

 conspicuous brush of whitish 

 hairs (Figs. 209, 210) ; they 

 are most firmly enclosed in 



those ears which are most 



FIG. 209. Grams of Spelt , . , , , , 



wheat (T. Spelta), front, brittle and have the stoutest 



back, and side views (nat. gl ume s. The ventral surface is 



flattened or hollowed slightly, 



the furrow of the grain shallow. The cross section is 

 less angular and the breadth proportionately greater 

 than that of a grain of T. dicoccum. The caryopses 

 measure 7-10 mm. long, 3-3*5 mm. broad, and 2-7-3 

 mm. thick ; the average ratio of length, breadth, and 

 thickness = 100 : 40-7 : 35'7- 



The produce of the thrashed ears, i.e. the husked 

 grain or " Vesen," consists of 68 to 79 per cent of 

 caryopses, and 21-32 per cent of chaff (pieces of 

 rachis and glumes), different varieties varying con- 

 siderably in the relative proportions of grain and chaff. 

 One hundred caryopses weigh from 5 to 5-8 grams. 

 The weight of a hectolitre of " Vesen " varies from 

 40 to 48 kg. 



FIG. 210.- Grains 

 of the spikelets of 

 one side of an ear 

 of Spelt wheat 

 (T. Spelta) (nat. 

 size). 



VARIETIES OF Triticum Spelta, L. 

 I. Ears bearded 



1. Glumes white, glabrous .... var. Arduini, Korn. 



2. Glumes white, pubescent . . . var. albovelutinum, Korn. 

 Glumes red, glabrous ..... var. vulpinum, Korn. 

 Glumes red, pubescent .... var. rubrovelutinum, Korn. 

 Glumes grey-blue, glabrous .... var. Schenkii, Korn. 



3- 

 4- 

 5- 

 6. Glumes blue-black, pubescent 



var. coeruleum, Korn. 



