PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIR SEEDS. 365 



by the downy white wheat, and vice versa, yield "hybrids 

 whose fertility is complete, with a mixture of the 

 characters of both parents, those of the spelt pre- 

 ponderating." 



2. Starch Wheat Triticum dicoccum,Schraiik; THti- 

 cum amyleum, Seringe. 



This form {Eminer, or Aemer in German), cultivated 

 for starch chiefly in Switzerland, resists a hard winter 

 It contains two grains in each little ear, like the true 

 spelt. 



Heer ^ attributes to a variety of T. dicoccum an ear 

 found in a bad state of preservation in the lake-dwellings 

 of Wangen, SAvitzerland. Messicommer has since found 

 some at Robenhausen. 



It has never been found wild; and the rari'^y of 

 common names is remarkable. These two circumstances, 

 anl the slight value of the botanical characters which 

 serve to distinguish it from Tr. spelta, lead to the con- 

 clusion that it is an ancient cultivated variety of the 

 latter. 



3. Oae-grainedWheat Triticummonoccccum L'nnseus. 

 The one-grained wheat, or little spe't, EinJconi in 



German, is distinguished from the two preceding by a 

 single seed in the little ear, and by other characters which 

 lead the majority of botanists to consider it as a really 

 distinct species. The experiments of H. Vilmorin con- 

 firm this opinion so far, for he has not yet succeeded in 

 crossing T. monococcum with other spelts or wheats. This 

 may be due, as he says himself, to some detail in the 

 manner of operating. He intends to renew his attempts, 

 and may perhaps suecesd. [In the Bidletin de la Societe 

 Botanique de I ranee, 1883, p. 62, Mr. Vilmorin says that 

 he has not met with better success in the third and 

 fourth years in his attempts at crossing T. 7)ionococcum 

 with other species. He intends to make the experiment 

 with T. bceoticum, Boissier, wild in Servia, of which I 

 sent him some seeds gathered by Pancic. As this species 

 is supposed to be the original stack of T. monococcum, 

 the experiment is an interesting one. Author's Note, 



' Heer, Pflanz. der. Pfahlb., p. 5, fig. 23, and p. 15. 



