Triticum aestivum, L.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1980, Flora Europaea. Volume 5. Alismataceae to Orchidaceae (Monocotyledones), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press : 203

8. T. aestivum L. , Sp. Pl. 85 (1753)

( T. sativum Lam. ).

Stems 40-150 cm, thin-walled and hollow, rarely partially filled with pith, glabrous at the nodes. Leaves 6—16 mm wide, scabrid, pubescent when young. Spike 4-18 cm (excluding awns), lax to dense, more or less 4-angled in section. Rhachis glabrous, tough, the upper internodes 4-8 mm. Spikelets with 3-6(-9) florets. Glumes c. 10 mm, truncate, with a single crested keel prominent at the apex only, indistinct below, sometimes pubescent towards the apex. Fertile lemma awnless, or with an awn up to 16 cm. Endosperm mealy to flinty. 2n = 42. Cultivated as a cereal (bread wheat) throughout Europe except the extreme north.