Triticum compactum

HABIT Annual. Culms 70–140 cm long. Leaf-sheath oral hairs ciliate. Leaf-sheath auricles falcate. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Leaf-blades 10 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface pilose; sparsely hairy.

INFLORESCENCE Inflorescence composed of racemes.

Racemes 1; single; oblong; bilateral; 3–5 cm long; 10–15 mm wide. Rhachis tough; flattened; ciliate on margins. Spikelet packing broadside to rhachis; crowded. Rhachis internodes oblong.

Spikelets solitary. Fertile spikelets sessile.

FERTILE SPIKELETS Spikelets comprising 2 fertile florets; with diminished florets at the apex. Spikelets oblong to ovate; laterally compressed; 10–13 mm long; 13–15 mm wide; persistent on plant.

GLUMES Glumes similar; shorter than spikelet. Lower glume oblong; 8–9 mm long; 1 length of upper glume; coriaceous; 1-keeled; keeled above; 5–9 -veined. Lower glume surface glabrous, or pilose. Lower glume apex dentate; 2 -fid. Upper glume oblong; 8–9 mm long; 0.9–1 length of adjacent fertile lemma; coriaceous; 1-keeled; keeled above; 5–9 -veined. Upper glume lateral veins divergent at apex. Upper glume surface glabrous, or pilose. Upper glume apex dentate; 2 -fid.

FLORETS Fertile lemma elliptic; 10 mm long; coriaceous; without keel; 9–11 -veined. Lemma apex muticous, or awned; 1 -awned. Principal lemma awn 50–90 mm long overall. Palea 2 -veined. Palea keels ciliolate. Apical sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped.

FLOWER Anthers 3. Ovary with a fleshy appendage below style insertion; pubescent on apex.

FRUIT Caryopsis with adherent pericarp; ellipsoid; 5–7 mm long; hairy at apex. Hilum linear.

DISTRIBUTION Europe: southwestern and eastern. Africa: north and Macaronesia. Asia-temperate: Siberia, Soviet far east, Soviet Middle Asia, Caucasus, western Asia, and Mongolia.

NOTES Triticeae. Fl Iran 1993.

Please cite this publication as detailed in How to Cite Version: 3rd February 2016.