A. St Clair Caporn 261 



As is to be generally expected when the glumes are so elongated, 

 the grain is also longer than that of ordinary wheat. It is hard and 

 pointed, has a very deep furrow, a whitish colour, and a translucent 

 appearance. 



Plate XIV, fig. 4 (a, a), shows typical Polonicuni glumes — maximum 

 and minimum. 



The Eloboni Parent. 



The parent stock was raised from a sample of grain brought from 

 Abyssinia ; but, owing to the ravages of rust, to which this variety is 

 extremely susceptible, the strain was unfortunately lost in the second 

 and third years of the experiment. 



Here again the tillering is poor and the plants small. The ears 

 are of small size, narrow, fairly lax, and bearded. (Plate XIII, fig. 3.) 

 In contrast to T. polonicmn the chaff is very short, the glume lengths 

 ranging from 8 mms. to 13 mms. A series of 51 short-glumed Elobonis 

 in the ^3 generation had an average length of 10*58 mms. ; but, as will 

 be shown later, there is reason to believe that the extracted parental 

 types have a markedly different average from the original, for which 

 the figure, in all probability, would be fully 1 mm. lower. No extensive 

 measurements of the glumes of the Eloboni parent, however, were 

 made, and as the stock had entirely died out when the experiment was 

 handed over to me, the conjectured average glume length is based 

 mainly on an analogy with the behaviour of the " pure long " glume. 



The grain is short, stumpy, hard. It has a tendency to shrink and 

 become slightly wrinkled. 



It is in the purple colour, however, that the chief feature of this 

 wheat is to be found. Unlike maize, where the aleurone layer con- 

 tains it, the pigment is located in the pericarp and therefore belongs 

 to the same generation as the plant which bears the grain. When 

 the grain has been well soaked in water, the pericarp of the caryopsis 

 may readily be peeled off. It consists of 



The Epicarp. A tissue of narrow cells elongated >y The first care- 



in the direction of the long axis of the fruit and with 

 pitted lateral walls. At the apex of the grain it bears 

 a few hairs. 



The Hypoderm and Mesocarp. Similar to the epi- 

 carp but with fewer pits and firmly united to it. 



ful peeling 

 generally re- 

 moves these 

 three as one 

 skin. 



Joarn. of Gen. vii * 18 



