Annuals. Leaf-blades flat. Inflorescence a distichous spike. Spikelets solitary at the nodes of the tough or fragile rhachis, laterally compressed, 2-6(-9)-flowered, the upper 1 or 2 florets usually sterile; glumes subequal, chartaceous or rarely membranous, asymmetrical, ± keeled, truncate, 1-2-toothed or awned; lemmas coriaceous, keeled towards the tip, scabrid, awned or awnless; palea membranous, 2-keeled.

A genus of about 25 species probably native only in the Middle East but in cultivation throughout much of the world (wheat); reports of 4 species in cultivation in Pakistan.

Triticum consists of a polyploid series in which there are diploid, tetraploid and hexaploid representatives with chromosome numbers of 2n = 14, 28 and 42. Genome analysis of the karyotypes has shown that only the diploids are genetically true Triticum. The others, strictly speaking, are intergeneric hybrids between Triticum and certain species of Aegilops. The tetraploids have a Triticum genome plus one derived from Aegilops speltoides Taush, while the hexaploids have both of these plus a third derived from Aegilops squarrosa Linn.

Lower Taxa

• Triticum aestivum Linn.
• Triticum durum Desf.
• Triticum sphaerococcum Percival
• Triticum turgidum Linn.