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• Grass-like plants
• True grasses
• Triticum aestivum

Triticum aestivum — bread wheat

Facts

Bread wheat is thought to have been domesticated in Turkey around 10,000 years ago. The chief differences between cultivated wheat and its wild ancestors are the larger seeds and the non-shattering rachis which permits harvesting with minimal losses. Today there are many thousands of cultivars. Bread wheat escapes cultivation and colonizes colonizes fields, roadsides and cultivated areas widely across North American and in New England.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats), meadows and fields

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Anther number

  3

  Awn on glume

  the glume has an awn

  Bristles below spikelets

  no

  Floret lower bract texture

  the lemma is hard and firm

  Floret number

  3–9

  Floret types within spikelet

  all the florets within a spikelet are similar

  Glume awn length

  0–40 mm

  Glume keel

  • the glume keels are rough or hairy
  • the glume keels are smooth and hairless

  Glume relative length

  neither glume is quite as long as all of the florets

  Glume veins

  • 3
  • 5
  • 7 or more

  Glumes per spikelet

  2

  Inflorescence axis hairs

  • the inflorescence axis is hairy but not rough or sand-papery feeling
  • the inflorescence axis is rough and feels like sand-paper

  Inflorescence axis orientation

  • the inflorescence axis bends downwards or hangs
  • the inflorescence axis is arched or curved outward
  • the inflorescence axis is straight

  Inflorescence branch length

  0 cm

  Inflorescence branch roughness

  NA

  Inflorescence branches

  there are no branch points between the base of the inflorescence axis and the flowers, or they are not obvious

  Inflorescence branches coming off the lowest stem node

  0

  Inflorescence crowding

  NA

  Inflorescence length

  35–180 mm

  Inflorescence type (general)

  the inflorescence is a spike, or is spike-like, lacking obvious branches

  Inflorescence type (specific)

  the inflorescence is a spike (a long unbranched stem with flowers along it that lack stalks)

  Inforescence position

  the spikelets are mainly carried at the end of the stem

  Lemma awn base

  the awn is attached right at the tip of the lemma

  Lemma awn coiled

  the lemma awn is straight or twisted, but not coiled one half turn

  Lemma awn length

  0–150 mm

  Lemma awn number

  • the lemma has no awn
  • the lemma has one awn on it

  Lemma awn orientation

  • the awn of the lemma is straight
  • the awn of the lemma on dried or older plants is curved or bent outwards

  Lemma cross-section

  • the lemma is V-shaped if you cut across the midpoint
  • the lemma is flat or rounded if you cut across the midpoint

  Lemma keel hairs

  the keel of the lemma is rough, or has fine hairs

  Lemma surface

  the surface of the lemma is relatively smooth (not counting any longitudinal veins or hairs)

  Lemma tip

  the lemma tip is a simple point, with or without an awn (long narrow extension ending in a point)

  Lemma tip shape

  the lemma tip tapers to a narrow point (it may or may not also have an awn or teeth at the tip)

  Lemma vein number

  • 5
  • 7 or more

  Lemma vein orientation

  the veins on the lemma stay roughly parallel throughout

  Lower glume length

  6–12 mm

  Lower glume relative length

  the lower glume is nearly as long, or as long as, the upper glume

  One or more florets

  there is more than one floret per spikelet

  Reproductive system

  all the flowers on the plant have both carpels and stamens (synoecious)

  Spikelet axis tip

  there is no extension of the spikelet axis beyond the tip of the spikelet

  Spikelet disintegration

  • NA
  • the spikelet breaks off above the glumes, so that after the florets fall off, the glumes remain

  Spikelet length

  10–15 mm

  Spikelet number per node

  Up to 1

  Spikelet pedicel

  the spikelets do not have pedicels

  Spikelet pedicel length

  0 mm

  Spikelet position

  NA

  Spikelet shape

  the spikelets are ovate (egg-shaped, widest below the middle with rounded ends) in profile

  Spikelets per panicle branch

  0

  Spikelets spiny

  the spikelets do not appear spiny

  Tip of glume

  • the tip of the glume is divided into two or more points
  • the tip of the glume is not divided (though it may have an awn on it)

  Upper glume length

  6–12 mm

  Upper glume shape

  the upper glume is widest at or below the middle

• Fruits or seeds

  Groove on seed

  the caryopsis has a groove running most of its length

  Seed length

  5–7 mm

• Growth form

  Horizontal rooting stem

  no

  Lifespan

  the plant lives only a single year or less

  Rhizomes

  no

  Roots

  there are only slender roots on the plant

• Leaves

  Leaf auricles

  the leaves have auricles

  Leaf basal lobe hairy

  • the lobes at the base of the leaf blades are hairless
  • the lobes at the base of the leaf blades have tiny fine hairs on them

  Leaf blade base

  the leaf blade is rounded in to a narrower base, or the blade cuts in abruptly to the narrower base

  Leaf blade cross-section

  the leaf blade is more or less flat in cross-section, or slightly folded or rolled inwards

  Leaf blade hairs

  • the leaf blade is hairless, but it may have tiny prickles that give it a sand-papery feel
  • the leaf blade is hairy

  Leaf blade length

  10–60 cm

  Leaf blade texture

  the leaf blade is rough and sandpapery

  Leaf blade width

  6–20 mm

  Leaf ligule type

  the leaf ligule is in the form of a membrane

  Leaf margin glands

  there are no glands along the edges of the leaf blade

  Leaf sheath closed around stem

  the margins of the leaf sheath are overlapping and not fused together except in the basal half (or less)

  Leaf sheath hair type

  • there are hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath, but the hairs do not have blisters at their bases
  • there are no hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath

  Leaf sheath hairs

  • there are hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath
  • there are no hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath

  Orientation of topmost leaf

  the flag leaf is held upright, or at less than a 45 degree angle out from the stem

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  • Connecticut
  • Maine
  • Massachusetts
  • New Hampshire
  • Rhode Island
  • Vermont

  Specific habitat

  • man-made or disturbed habitats
  • meadows or fields

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Hairs at nodes

  the stem nodes are hairless or they have very sparse hairs

  Plant height

  14–150 cm

  Stem node number

  6–7

  Stem orientation

  the stems are upright

  Stem spacing

  the stems grow close together in compact clusters or tufts

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae