4 BULLETIN 1074, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
separated from the chaff in thrashing, while that of the for was not, 
indicating that the former consisted of true wheats, while the latter 
was emmer or spelt. 
Columella himself recognized three types of Triticiun, robus (red), 
siligo (white), and trimestrian (spring), and in addition four types 
of bearded wheat (spelt or emmer), viz: 
Clusinian, of a shining, bright, white colour ; a bearded wheat, which is called 
venunculum. One sort of it is of a fiery-red colour and another sort of it is 
white; the trimestrian seed, or that of 3 months' growth, which is called 
halicastrum. 
It is evident from these quotations that many of the leading char- 
acters of the wheat plant were recognized in this early period. What 
attention was given to studies of wheat during the Dark Ages no 
one can say. With the revival of learning the botanists and medical 
men began the publication of the folio and royal octavo herbals, 
many of them illustrated with woodcuts. In these, wheat species 
were included, the forms mostly being those described by Theophras- 
tus, Pliny, and Varro, but from time to time new ones were added. 
There is little advantage in trying to guess what particular form 
of common wheat each so-called species represented. IMore recent 
botanical writers described species which can now be recognized. 
Principal among these writers was Tournefort (194) ^ who in 1T19 
listed 14 species of Triticum. 
The classification of wheat practicall}^ began with the work of 
Linne in 1753. In his Species Plantarum (140) he described seven 
species of Triticum, viz : T. aestivum, T. hyhemum^ T. turgidum^ T, 
spelta^ T. monococcum^ T. repens, and T. caninum. The two latter 
species have since been included in another genus. In the second edi- 
tion of the Species Plantarum, published in 1764, he describes six 
species which are still included in the genus Triticum, viz: T. 
aestivum^ T, hyhernum^ T. turgidum^ T. polonicum^ T . speltOj^ and 
T. monococcum^ the species T. polonicum having been added. 
Linnaeus divided the common wheat, T . vulgare, into two species, T. 
aestivum^ awned spring, and T. hyhernum^ awnless winter, appar- 
entl}^ believing that all spring wheats were awned and all winter 
wheats awnless. Writers who followed him usually have not recog- 
nized these distinctions. 
Lamarck, in 1786 {134)^ created the species Triticum sativum to 
include both the species T. aestivum and T. hyhernum which Lin- 
naeus had adopted. Each species and subspecies was described ac- 
cording to the presence or absence of awns, the color and covering of 
the glumes, the color, size, and density of the kernels, the solidity of 
the stem, and several other characters. 
