386 THE WHEAT PLANT 



sterile hybrid among his cultivations of A, ventricosa which he thought 

 was due to crossing with T. turgidum. 



IV. HYBRIDS OF CULTIVATED WHEATS WITH BARLEY AND RYE 



1 . WHEAT x BARLEY. It is frequently stated that the Australian 

 wheat " Bobs " (p. 290) is a descendant of a hybrid between a sport from 

 Blount's Lambrigg wheat (a form of T. vulgare, var. albidum) pollinated 

 by William Farrer in 1896 with Nepal Barley or Bald Skinless barley, a 

 six-rowed form with nude grains. 



Farrer operated on a dozen flowers of the wheat, taking the usual 

 precautions to prevent self- fertilisation. A single shrivelled seed was 

 obtained which gave rise to an F x with somewhat light green foliage and 

 weak straw suggestive of barley. The F 2 generation showed no evidence 

 of F 2 parentage, but small differences were visible among the several 

 plants from which " Bobs " appears to have been selected about four 

 years after the original cross. 



Mr. J. T. Pridham attempted the cross Fife wheat ? x Nepal barley $ 

 but without success. From the reciprocal cross (Nepal barley 9 x Fife 

 wheat cJ), however, he obtained 7 grains; the Fj plants from the latter 

 when young had narrow, somewhat dark green, wheat-like leaves, but 

 these characters disappeared as the plants grew, the adult plant having 

 the broad light green leaves and ears exactly like the barley mother. 



Mr. Pridham also tells me that Federation wheat was crossed with a 

 2-rowed naked barley. The F x of the Wheat ? x Barley cross had 

 pale green foliage and very weak straw, like the barley parent, the re- 

 ciprocal F t having narrower, darker, more wheat-like leaves. " In both 

 cases," he says, " the F 2 progeny showed variations, such as the crossing 

 of two not very distinct varieties would show in the variable generation, 

 but no resemblance to barley that could be seen." There appears to be 

 some justification for the belief in the greater than normal variability 

 in these " crosses," and it is possible that the stimulus of the foreign 

 pollen may be connected with its manifestation, but the evidence for the 

 hybridisation of wheat and barley is inconclusive, and Farrer himself 

 gives reasons for uncertainty in regard to the matter. 



2. WHEAT x RYE. 



i. T. monococcum x Secale cereale. 



ii. T. polonicum x Secale cereale. 



Tschermak states that he crossed these two species of wheat with rye, 

 the resulting hybrids being sterile. No descriptions are given in his 

 paper. 



iii. T. vulgare x Secale cereale (Fig. 224). 



The artificial hybridisation of wheat and rye appears to have been 



