CLASSIFICATION OF AMERICAN WHEAT VARIETIES. 65 



Co. and grown on their experiment station near Stockton, Calif. Of several 

 varieties grown, the Bunyip was selected as the most promising and was 

 increased and distributed for commercial growing in California. 



Distribution. — Grown in San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties, Calif. 



PACIFIC BLTJESTEM. 



Description. — Plant spring habit, midseason, tall; stem white, strong; spike 

 awnless, linear-oblong, dense, erect ; glumes glabrous, yellowish white, some- 

 times becoming a light brown, midlong, wide; shoulders wide, square to ele- 

 vated; beaks wide, oblong, obtuse to truncate, 0.5 to 1 mm. long; apical awns 

 several, 8 to 20 mm. long ; kernels white, midlong, soft to semihard, ovate, some- 

 times becoming oval ; germ midsized ; crease wide, middeep ; cheeks usually 

 angular; brush midsized, midlong. 



This variety can be easily identified by its broad, square shoulders and 

 broad, blunt beaks. The variety is a high-yielding wheat under favorable cli- 

 matic conditions, and the grain is considered above the average in quality for 

 bread making among the white-kerneled wheats grown in the Pacific Coast 

 States. Spikes, glumes, and kernels of this wheat are shown in Plate XI, A, 

 and a single spike in Plate VI, Figure 5. 



History. — Pacific Bluestem is an old wheat of the Pacific coast area, most 

 commonly known as Bluestem and White Australian. The variety came to 

 America from Australia. White Lammas was the leading wheat variety of Aus- 

 tralia during the earliest years of wheat production in that country. According 

 to Cobb (70, p. 9), White Australian of California is identical with White Lam- 

 mas of Australia. It apparently was introduced into the United States in the 

 early fifties as White Australian or Australian. During the period from 1852 

 to 1866 (179, p. 176 ; 38, p. 138 ; 8J t , p. 586) its culture became established in Cali- 

 fornia under the name White Australian. Since that time it has remained the 

 principal variety grown in that State. Bluestem is the name under which the 

 variety became established in Washington and Oregon. According to W. P. 

 Church, of Walla Walla, Wash., the wheat known as Bluestem in that section 

 came from two introductions, the first from Australia in 1882 and the second 

 from New Zealand in 1896. The following item was recorded concerning the 

 first introduction : 



Most of the wheat raised in that locality (Walla Walla County) is what is 

 known as the Bluestem variety. It is an Australian wheat, introduced in this 

 country by Sibson, Church & Co. George Delaney was the first to sow the wheat 

 in this country in 1882, but W. H. Reed, of the firm of Reed & Co., grain mer- 

 chants, was the first to bring it into general use (21). 



Concerning the second introduction, Mr. Church has stated that " it consisted 

 of 14 sacks and contained a mixture of 10 to 15 per cent of red kernels con- 

 tained in bearded heads." Mr. Church stated further that the introductions 

 came under the name of Purplestraw Tuscan. This name, however, was never 

 used for the wheat in the United States. The wheat is not similar to the Purple- 

 straw Tuscan wheat of Australia, but is somewhat similar to, but not identical 

 with, the White Tuscan and Silver King varieties. 



It is not known how the name" Bluestem " came to be applied to the variety, 

 as it does not have the purple stem common to many varieties of wheat and is 

 not similar to any of the other five varieties grown in the United States under 

 that name. To distinguish this Bluestem wheat from the others it has recently 

 been called Pacific Bluestem. In Washington and Oregon the Pacific Bluestem 

 wheat became as popular as the White Australian did earlier in California, and 

 95539°— 22— Bull. 1074 5 



