Triticum 



Triticum. 



' triticeam messem ' (fie. i. 219). 



Wheat (Triticum vulgare), the reputed invention 

 of Osiris, was perhaps developed out of spelt or some 

 other grass in the valley of the Nile. The Italian 

 variety was bearded, as it appears in the statues 

 of Ceres. Though Varro gives us the names for the 

 different parts of the ear, some of the lexicons are 

 not exact. The ear itself is ' spica,' whence ' spicea 

 messis ' {Ge. i. 314), though Virgil usually avails 

 himself of synecdoche and uses ' arista ' in its stead 

 (Ge. i. 8, etc.). This is properly the beard, and in 

 ' molli arista ' {Ec. iv. 28) seems to have that mean- 

 ing, the epithet applying to the flexibility of the 

 beard. It must, however, be said that ' mollis,' as 

 applied to plants, seems to be a difficult and shifty 

 adjective. The bract, which forms an envelope to 

 the organs of reproduction, is 'gluma,' and the seed 

 or grain of corn is ' granum.' The names of other 

 parts of the plant apply to other cereal grasses as 

 well. Thus 'stipula' and 'culmus' are synonyms 

 for the stem, halm, or straw, while ' palea ' is the 

 chaff. 



Wheat broke into varieties, the best for colour 

 and weight being ' robus.' 



Italian name, Grano. 



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