164 



Fig. 132. Triticum vulgare Vill. WHEAT: — a, A spikelet; b, a glume seen 

 from the back; c, flowering glume seen from the side; d, palea; e, grain: /, a 

 portion of the axis of the spike; g, pistil and lodicules. 



132. TRITICUM Linn. Sp. PI. 85. 1753. Spikelets 2- to 5-flowered, solitary a t 

 the notches of the main axis, forming a distichous spike. Empty glumes 2, 

 rigid, 3- to many-nerved, with 1 to many awns or abruptly toothed at the apex; 

 flowering glumes rounded on the back, or boat-shaped, many-nerved, termi- 

 nating in one to several teeth or aAvns. Stamens 3. Styles very short; stigmas 

 plumose. Grain flat or oblong, deeply sulcate-villous at the apex, free or 

 adherent to the palea. Annual or biennial, erect grasses with flat leaves and 

 terminal spikes. 



Species 10 or 12, in Southern Europe and Western Asia; one species wheat, 

 in its many varieties, is now widely cultivated throughout all temperate 

 countries. 



