4 BULLETIN 1074, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



separated from the chaff in thrashing, while that of the far was not, 

 indicating that the former consisted of true wheats, while the latter 

 was emmer or spelt. 



Columella himself recognized three types of Triticum, robus (red) , 

 siligo (white) , and trimestrian (spring) , and in addition four types 

 of bearded wheat (spelt or emmer) , viz : 



Clusinian, of a shining, bright, white colour ; a bearded wheat, which is called 

 venunculum. One sort of it is of a fiery-red colour and another sort of it is 

 white; the trimestrian seed, or that of 3 months' growth, which is called 



halicastrum. 



It is evident from these quotations that many of the leading char- 

 acters of the wheat plant were recognized in this early period. What 

 attention was given to studies of wheat during the Dark Ages no 

 one can say. With the revival of learning the botanists and medical 

 men began the publication of the folio and royal octavo herbals, 

 many of them illustrated with woodcuts. In these, wheat species 

 were included, the forms mostly being those described by Theophras- 

 tus, Pliny, and Varro, but from time to time new ones were added. 

 There is little advantage in trying to guess what particular form 

 of common wheat each so-called species represented. More recent 

 botanical writers described species which can now be recognized. 

 Principal among these writers was Tournefort (19J/.), who in 1719 

 listed 14 species of Triticum. 



The classification of wheat practically began with the work of 

 Linne in 1753. In his Species Plantarum {HO) he described seven 

 species of Triticum, viz : T. aestivum, T. hybernum, T. turgidum, T. 

 spelta, T. monococcum, T. repens, and T. caninum. The two latter 

 species have since been included in another genus. In the second edi- 

 tion of the Species Plantarum, published in 1764, he describes six 

 species which are still included in the genus Triticum, viz: T. 

 aestivum, T. Kybemwn, T. turgidum, T. polonicum., T. spelta, and 

 T. monococcum, the species T . polonicum having been added. 

 Linnaeus divided the common wheat, T. vulgare, into two species, T. 

 aestivum, awned spring, and 1 '. hybernum, awnless winter, appar- 

 ently believing that all spring wheats were awned and all winter 

 wheats awnless. Writers who followed him usually have not recog- 

 nized these distinctions. 



Lamarck, in 1786 {13^), created the species Triticum sativum to 

 include both the species T . aestivum and T. hybernum which Lin- 

 naeus had adopted. Each species and subspecies was described ac- 

 cording to the presence or absence of awns, the color and covering of 

 the glumes, the color, size, and density of the kernels, the solidity of 

 the stem, and several other characters. 



