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Descriptions

W.D. Clayton, M. Vorontsova, K.T. Harman & H. Williamson

© Copyright The Board of Trustees, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Triticum spelta

HABIT Annual. Culms 60–120 cm long. Leaf-sheath oral hairs ciliate. Leaf-sheath auricles falcate. Ligule an eciliate membrane. Leaf-blades 30–60 cm long; 10–15 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface glabrous, or pilose; sparsely hairy.

INFLORESCENCE Inflorescence composed of racemes.

Racemes 1; single; bilateral; 10–15 cm long. Rhachis fragile at the nodes; flattened; ciliate on margins. Spikelet packing broadside to rhachis. Rhachis internodes clavate; 5–6 mm long; falling with spikelet above.

Spikelets solitary. Fertile spikelets sessile.

FERTILE SPIKELETS Spikelets comprising 2 fertile florets; with diminished florets at the apex. Spikelets oblong; laterally compressed; 12–15 mm long; falling entire; deciduous with accessory branch structures.

GLUMES Glumes similar; shorter than spikelet. Lower glume oblong; 8–12 mm long; 1 length of upper glume; coriaceous; 2-keeled; keeled all along; 5–9 -veined. Lower glume surface glabrous, or pilose. Lower glume apex dentate; 2 -fid; truncate. Upper glume oblong; 8–12 mm long; 0.9–1 length of adjacent fertile lemma; coriaceous; 2-keeled; keeled all along; 5–9 -veined. Upper glume lateral veins divergent at apex. Upper glume surface glabrous, or pubescent. Upper glume apex dentate; 2 -fid; truncate.

FLORETS Fertile lemma elliptic; 7 mm long; coriaceous; keeled; keeled above; 9–11 -veined. Lemma surface pubescent; hairy above. Lemma apex awned; 1 -awned. Principal lemma awn 6–60 mm long overall. Palea 2 -veined. Palea keels ciliolate. Apical sterile florets resembling fertile though underdeveloped; 2–3 in number.

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

FRUIT Caryopsis with adherent pericarp; ellipsoid; 7–10 mm long; hairy at apex. Hilum linear.

DISTRIBUTION Europe: central, southwestern, and eastern. Africa: north, northeast tropical, and southern tropical. Asia-temperate: Soviet Middle Asia, Caucasus, western Asia, and eastern Asia.

NOTES Triticeae. Fl Iran 1993.

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