Page authors: Don Knoke, David Giblin
Triticum aestivum
bread wheat
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across most of North America to the Atlantic Coast.

Habitat: Fields, roadsides, wastelots, and other disturbed areas.

Flowers: April-June

Origin: Introduced from Eurasia

Growth Duration: Annual

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Wind

Description:
General:

Plants annuals or winter annuals, up to 1.5 m. tall, the culms hollow.

Leaves:

Sheaths open; auricles prominent; ligules 1 mm. long; blades 5-20 mm. broad.

Flowers:

Inflorescence a spike 5-12 cm. long, awned or awnless; spikelets 2- to 5-flowered, borne in a terminal spike flatwise to the continuous rachis, 1 per node, sessile; glumes firm, keeled, strongly 3-nerved; lemmas broad, lopsidedly keeled; stamens 3.

Accepted Name:
Triticum aestivum L.
Publication: Sp. Pl. 1: 85. 1753.

Synonyms & Misapplications:
Triticum hybernum L.
Triticum macha Dekapr. & Menabde
Triticum sativum Lam.
Triticum sphaerococcum Percival
Triticum vulgare Vill.
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Triticum aestivum in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database

WA Flora Checklist: Triticum aestivum checklist entry

OregonFlora: Triticum aestivum information

E-Flora BC: Triticum aestivum atlas page

CalPhotos: Triticum aestivum photos

27 photographs:
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