296 ESSAYS ON WHEAT 



Serbes and that peculiar people the Baotrians of Persia. 

 " The cultivated wheats with a rigid rachis are there- 

 fore derived from the wheats with a brittle rachis. But 

 of the three species which have this common character, 

 which one shall we select as the prototype and why make 

 this selection to the exclusion of others ? 



IX. Einkorn and Its Prototype Distinct from other 

 Wheats 



" More than fifty years ago Balansa discovered Triticum 

 monococcum cegilipoides in the wild state. This differs 

 from the cultivated Triticum monococcum (Einkorn) only 

 in minute characters and is without doubt its prototype. 

 Balansa believed that he had found the progenitor of the 

 cultivated wheats, an opinion that Haussknecht also ac- 

 cepted at the time. But experiments in crossing under- 

 taken more than fifty years ago by Vilmorin led him to 

 assert that whereas all the other species of wheats crossed 

 with each other perfectly and gave mongrels, or fertile off- 

 spring, he had never succeeded in crossing Triticum 

 monococcum with any other wheat. Later, Beyerinck 

 succeeded in producing the cross, but the products were 

 strict hybrids; that is, they were all sterile. More re- 

 cently still, Professor von Tschermak, who took up Vil- 

 morin's experiments, met with the same failure. He has 

 succeeded in crossing Triticum monococcum with Triticum 

 ovatum which, as we have seen, may in turn be crossed 

 with Triticum cestivum; but neither he nor any one else 

 has succeeded in crossing Triticum monococcum, with any 

 other wheat. 



" Let us note, however, that in the case of Triticum 

 polonicum there was difficulty in crossing, because of the 

 peculiar form of its glumes, until a particular operative 

 technique had been worked out. In view of this we may 



