I1UUDE.E. 



641 



An erect glaucous annual, with slender but stilt' culms 1-2 in. 

 high. Glumes 1-nervetl. 



A valuable cereal, tlio grain inferior to that of wheat. Much 

 grown in cool regions where the land is liglit and poor; also grown 

 as a forage-crop and for green manuring. See Vol. I. 



141. (rJfiS). TriticumL. Sp. ri. S") (its:]). Wiikat. ("("orn"' 

 in England.) .AV//7f>yy.s' L, Coroll. (Jen. '20 (IS:??). JifoiNKs Scop. 

 Introd. 74 (1777). Crithodium Link, Linmea, 9:i;5;i (IS;54). 

 Cn//if(>pi/n/ni lleynh. Norn. '2: 174 (lS4i;). 



Spikelets 2-5-flowered, the fertile ones inflated, distichous, 

 sessile, somewhat compressed, single at the alternate notches of the 



Fig. 121. — Secale cereale. Spikelet, (Richardson.) 



rachis of a simple spike, one side of the spikelet next the rachis; 

 rachilla often jointed between the flowers, 1-5 of the lower flowftrs 

 perfect, the upper often nude or neuter. Enii)(y glumes iirni, shorter 

 and often narrower than the iloral glume, usually ine([uilateral, with 

 few nerves, awn short or none, Iloral glume ventricose, broadly 

 obhmg, round on the back or keeled above, often toothed or awned, 

 5-9-nerved, nerves not meeting at the a[)e\; palea shorter than its 

 glume, witli two ciliate keels. Stamens -5. Styles 2, very short, 

 stigmas plumose. Grain ovoid or oblong, usually villous at tlui 

 i.pex, with a groove on the inside, included by the glume aiul palea, 

 not adhering to them or slightly adhering to the palea. Erect 



