CLASSIFICATION OF AMERICAN WHEAT VARIETIES. 199 



pressed. The spikelets usually contain only one fertile floret, for 

 which reason it is called I-grained wheat. The terminal spikelets 

 are aborted. The palea splits into two parts at maturity. The ker- 

 nels, which remain in the spikelets after thrashing, are pale red, 

 slender, and very much compressed. The kernel crease is almost 

 wanting. 



Einkorn is not commercially grown in America, and the species 

 itself has no economic importance. The form most commonly grown 

 experimentally is distinguished by the following key : 



KEY TO EINKORN. 



Spike Awned. 



Glumes Glabrous. 



Glumes White (Tritioum monococcum vulgare Kcke.). Page. 



Winter Habit Einkorn 199 



DESCRIPTION, HISTORY, AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE VARIETY. 



EINKOKN. 



Description. — Plant winter habit, although usually it will mature seed from 

 spring sowing, late, short; stem white, fine, strong; spike awned, fusiform, 

 middense, erect; glumes glabrous, yellowish, long, narrow; shoulders narrow, 

 apiculate; beaks narrow, acuminate, 1 to 2 mm. long; awns 3 to 10 cm. long; 

 kernels red, midsized, soft, elliptical, acute, humped, compressed, usually 

 inclosed in glumes; germ small; crease narrow, nearly wanting, shallow; 

 cheeks rounded ; brush small, short. 



This variety of einkorn is described as having a winter habit because the 

 plant remains prostrate during most of the growing season. It usually will 

 produce seed late in the season when sown in the spring and frequently has 

 been grown as spring einkorn. A spike, glumes, a spikelet, and kernels of 

 einkorn are shown in Plate LX, B. 



History. — Einkorn apparently originated in southern Europe in prehistoric 

 times. Seed of this cereal has been introduced into the United States several 

 times, one of the earliest introductions by the department having been received 

 from Vilmorin-Andrieux & Co., Paris, France, in 1901, but it is known to have 

 been grown in the United States previous to that time. The strain here 

 described was obtained from Erfurt, Germany, in 1904. 



Distribution. — Grown by many experiment stations throughout the United 

 States, but not known to be grown commercially. 



UNIDENTIFIED VARIETIES. 



Among the wheat varieties grown in the United States are a few 

 which have not yet been identified. Nearly 300 names were reported 

 in the varietal survey, of which no material has been obtained and 

 grown. Seed of many of these was requested, but not received. Ob- 

 viously, some of the names reported were not properly applied to 

 wheat. Others are probably local names used by only a few growers, 

 but not published or generally established. The names of varieties 

 which were reported but not grown or identified by the writers are 



