Relatives
Aegilops biuncialis Vis. - Mediterranean Aegilops.
Taxonomic position.
Family Poaceae Barnh. genus Aegilops L.Synonyms.
Aegilops lorentii Hochst., A. macrochaeta Shuttl. et Huet, Triticum biunciale (Vis.) K.Richt., T.macrochaetum (Shuttl. et Huet) K.Richt.Morphology and biology.
Annual herbaceous plant, 15-30 cm high, with numerous erect stems in most cases. Leaves are linear, flat. Blades, ligules and the upper part of sheaths are ciliate. Ears are short, 2-3.5 cm in length (not counting awns), with 2-3 fully developed spikelets, narrow-lanceolate; under fruits, they break at the base and fall off entirely. At the bottom of the ear there is 1 rudimentary spikelet. Spikelet glumes are oblong, ovate or obovate, almost twice as short as the adjacent lemmata, cartilaginous-leathery, with 7-13 protruding veins, without an expressed keel, scabrous or shortly pilose, topped with 2-3 awns broadened in a ribbon-like manner at the base and slightly deviated from the ear axis. Ribs of the ear axis always have large prickles. Kernels never accrete to paleae. Wind- and self-pollinated plant. Autochore. Propagated by seed. Blossoms in May; bears fruit in June. 2n=28.Distribution.
Crimea; Caucasus - Ante-Caucasus (Taman Peninsula), Transcaucasia, Talysh; Mediterranean region, Asia Minor, Iran.Ecology.
Ephemeron. Drought-resistant. Grows on mountainsides with dry stony and small-grained soils, gravels and taluses, near roads, among shrubs and in weedy places. At foothills and in the lower mountain zone ascends to 1300-1600 m above sea level.Utilization and economic value.
Fodder plant. Consumed readily by all kinds of livestock until the fruiting phase. May be utilized by breeders in hybridization with wheat.Reference citations:
Eig A. 1929. Monographisch-kritische Ubersicht der Gattung Aegilops. Feddes Repertorium Specierum novarum regni vegetabilis Beih, 55:1-228. (in German).Gandilyan, P.A. 1978. Toward the taxonomy of the genus Aegilops L. and the classifier of its species. Biological Journal of Armenia, vol. 31, iss.3, pp. 223-232 (in Russian).
Grigoryev, Yu.S., Pauzner, L.E. 1963. Materials on the ecology of Aegilops L. species. Botanical Journal of the USSR, vol. 48, iss.5, pp. 640-650 (in Russian).
Slageren M. W. van. 1994. Wild wheats: a monograph of Aegilops L. and Amblyopyrum (Jaub. & Spach) Eig (Poaceae). Wageningen Agriculture University Papers 1994 (7). 513 pp.
Tsvelev, N.N. 1976. Cereal grasses of the USSR. Leningrad, Nauka, 788 pp. (in Russian).
Zhukovsky, P.M. 1928. Critique and taxonomic survey of Aegilops L. species. Works on Applied Botany, Genetics and Plant Breeding, vol.18, iss.1, pp. 417-609 (in Russian).