小麥屬

Triticum aestivum leaf cross section Credit: cs kuoh

Annual. Raceme linear, bearing single spikelets on a fragile rhachis. Spikelets 3-9-flowerd; glumes oblong to ovate, coriaceous, 5-11-nerved. 1-2-keeled, obtuse truncate or bidentate, the lateral nerves diverging into the teeth, mucronate or awned; lemmas rounded on back or keeled near tip, the tip similar to that of glumes.

Species 10-20. Eastern Mediterranean to Iran.

Stony hillsides, dry grassland and weedy places; more than half the species cultivated. Wheat is the principal cereal of temperate regions.

Lower Taxon

• Triticum aestivum Linn.