182 BULLETIN 1074, V. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
ALASKA. 
Description. — Plant spring habit, late, tall; stem white, raidstrong. spike 
branched, awned. nodding; glumes glabrous, brown, short, midwide ; shoulders 
narrow, usually rounded ; beaks nearly wanting ; awns black, 3 to 12 cm. long ; 
kernels white, short to midlong, hard, often becoming starchy, ovate, humped; 
germ midsized; crease midwide. shallow, sometimes pitted; cheeks usually an- 
gular; brush midsized, short. 
Alaska is recognized by the composite spikes, glabrous glumes, and vrhite 
kernels. A spike, glumes, and kernels of this variety are shown in Plate LIV. A. 
History. — This variety of poulard wheat probably has been introduced into 
this country several times from the Mediterranean region of Europe, where 
poulard wheats are grown commercially to a small extent. The first introduc- 
tion of this wheat into the United States was thought by Ball and Leighty (i) 
p. 4) to have been in 1806, when it was brought from Ireland under the name 
of Jerusalem. Several other introductions have been recorded in American 
literature. The wheat often has been used by unscrupulous seedsmen for ex- 
travagant exploitation. The names listed as synonyms have all been used at 
one time or another for the variety in the United States. In recent years the 
name Alaska has been generally adopted for the wheat. It was the name used 
for the variety by Abraham Adams, of Juliaetta. Idaho, who distributed seed 
of the variety in the Pacific Northwest from about 1904 to 1908. 
Distribution. — Alaska wheat was reported in 1919 from Arizona. New ]\Iexico, 
Oregon and Pennsylvania. It also is known to be grown to a small extent in 
California, North Dakota, Montana, and Idaho. 
Synonyms. — Egyptian, Eldorado, Jerusalem, Many Headed, Many Spiked, 
Multiple Headed, Miracle, Mortgage Lifter, Mummy, Reed. Seven Headed, Seven 
Headed Sinner, Smyrna, Syrian, Taos, Wheat of Miracle, Wheat 3,000 Years 
Old, Wild Goose. 
The names Egyptian, Jerusalem, Mummy, Smyrna, Syrian, and Wheat 3.000 
Years Old were applied to this wheat by exploiters who claimed the wheat had 
been discovered in ancient tombs in Africa or Asia. 
The names Many Headed. Many Spiked, Multiple Headed. Seven Headed, and 
Seven Headed Sinner have been used because of the composite spikes which 
sometimes produce several branches. 
Eldorado, Miracle, Mortgage Lifter, and Wheat of Miracle are names given 
to the wheat because of its supposed large yields. 
Reed is a name used for Alaska because of its tall coarse stem, which is reed- 
like. Taos is a name long used for Alaska in New Mexico and Utah. Wild 
Goose is a name given Alaska and several other wheats by men who claimed to 
have obtained the seed from the crop of a wild goose which had been shot. 
TITANIC. 
Description. — Plant winter habit, late, midtall to tall ; stem white, midstrong, 
stout; spike branched, awned, nodding; glumes pubescent, brown, short, narrow; 
shoulders wanting to narrow, oblique; beak 0.5 mm. long; awns black, usually 
deciduous, 3 to HO cm. long; kernels white, midlong. semihard, usually becoming 
very starchy, oval to ovate, humped ; germ midsized ; crease midwide. shallow, 
sometimes pitted; cheeks angular; brush midsized, short. 
This variety differs from Alaska in having a winter habit and pubescent 
brown glumes. A spike, glumes, and kernels are shown in Plate LIV, B. 
History. — The Titanic wheat was introduced into the United States by Harry 
Towell, of Fort Stanley, Wash., in 1912. Mr. Towell had obtained 12 kernels 
