GRAMINE^.. 



289 



T. compositum deserves to be treated as a species, and m all respects resem- 

 bles T. viilgare, except that the stalk is thicker, aiul the head branchiug It 

 IS growu m nurtheru Africa, aud in suutiiern Italv, and was no doubt the 

 wheat ot the ancient Hebrews and the Romans. 



Geofjraphy. — Wheat does not grow well north of the fiftieth degree of 

 Dorth latitude in North America, nor south <.f tlie thirtieth degree. In Europe 

 It grows well in southern liussia below 51°, 

 and is cultivated with success throughout 

 central and western Europe, and as far south 

 as southern Italy. It is also cultivated suc- 

 cessfully in Turkey, Syria, northern and 

 southern Africa, and in the south temperate 

 zone in South America, — in Brazil, Chile 

 and Buenos Ay res ; also in Australia, wliere 

 it constitutes the most important object of 

 agriculture. The great wheat-gro\\ing re- 

 gions of the world are the southwestern 

 plains of Kussia, the great central plain of 

 North America, the southern ])lains of Cali- 

 fornia, and recently, northern India and 

 England. 



Etymology. — Triticum is from the Latin 

 verb tero, whose ])articiple is tritus, rubbed, 

 — alluding either to the practice of rubbing 

 it to separate the grain from the chaff, or 

 to the mode of grinding it into flour. The 

 specific name vuU/are is the Latin for " com- 

 mon." The word wheat, the common name, 

 is supposed to be derived from the Sanscrit 

 sereta, meaning " white," and arises from the 

 circumstance that the flour made from this 

 grain is white. 



History. — No form of wheat, nor any 

 species closely resembling it, has ever beeii 

 seen wild. It must, therefore, either have 

 been very much altered from the original 

 wild grass, which tradition and probability 

 would lead one to consider a native of some 

 part of central Asia ; or else, by reason of 

 changes of climate in the country of its 

 origin, it has become extinct as a wild plant. 

 In favor of the latter supposition in prefer- 

 ence to the former is the fact that, like other 

 annual cereals, the wheat shows very little 

 tendency to vary. The forms cultivated in 

 ancient Egypt, in China, and in Talestine. 



appear to be identical in all respects with'those we are now familiar with. 

 The home of the wheat is gener.illy believed to be western Asia in the coun- 

 tries watered by the Tigris an.l Euphrates, whence it ha., found'its wav into 

 every favorable clime where a.-ri.-ulture is practiced. Among tho ancient 

 Egyptians, and the inhabitants of Talestine, MesojM.f:„nia. and northern Svria 

 Pk. Fi. — 20 " '' 



Triticum vuloabe (Wheat). 



