78-494: See text Posidonia is a genus of flowering plants . It contains nine species of marine plants (" seagrass "), found in the seas of the Mediterranean and around the south coast of Australia . The APG system (1998) and APG II system (2003) accept this genus as constituting the sole genus in the family Posidoniaceae , which it places in the order Alismatales , in the clade monocots . The AP-Website concludes that
156-401: A clonal colony of P. oceanica was discovered south of the island of Ibiza which measured 8 km across and is possibly up to 100,000 years old. Flowering plant Basal angiosperms Core angiosperms Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits , and form the clade Angiospermae ( / ˌ æ n dʒ i ə ˈ s p ər m iː / ). The term 'angiosperm'
234-1813: A molecular phylogeny of plants placed the flowering plants in their evolutionary context: Bryophytes [REDACTED] Lycophytes [REDACTED] Ferns [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The main groups of living angiosperms are: Amborellales [REDACTED] 1 sp. New Caledonia shrub Nymphaeales [REDACTED] c. 80 spp. water lilies & allies Austrobaileyales [REDACTED] c. 100 spp. woody plants Magnoliids [REDACTED] c. 10,000 spp. 3-part flowers, 1-pore pollen, usu. branch-veined leaves Chloranthales [REDACTED] 77 spp. Woody, apetalous Monocots [REDACTED] c. 70,000 spp. 3-part flowers, 1 cotyledon , 1-pore pollen, usu. parallel-veined leaves Ceratophyllales [REDACTED] c. 6 spp. aquatic plants Eudicots [REDACTED] c. 175,000 spp. 4- or 5-part flowers, 3-pore pollen, usu. branch-veined leaves Amborellales Melikyan, Bobrov & Zaytzeva 1999 Nymphaeales Salisbury ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Austrobaileyales Takhtajan ex Reveal 1992 Chloranthales Mart. 1835 Canellales Cronquist 1957 Piperales von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Magnoliales de Jussieu ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Laurales de Jussieu ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Acorales Link 1835 Alismatales Brown ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Petrosaviales Takhtajan 1997 Dioscoreales Brown 1835 Pandanales Brown ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Liliales Perleb 1826 Asparagales Link 1829 Arecales Bromhead 1840 Poales Small 1903 Zingiberales Grisebach 1854 Commelinales de Mirbel ex von Berchtold & Presl 1820 Wheat Wheat
312-442: A woody stem ), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of broad-leaved trees , shrubs and vines , and most aquatic plants . Angiosperms are distinguished from the other major seed plant clade, the gymnosperms , by having flowers , xylem consisting of vessel elements instead of tracheids , endosperm within their seeds, and fruits that completely envelop the seeds. The ancestors of flowering plants diverged from
390-438: A combination of artificial and natural selection . This complexity and diversity of status has led to much confusion in the naming of wheats. Hexaploid species (6N) Tetraploid species (4N) Diploid species (2N) The wild species of wheat, along with the domesticated varieties einkorn , emmer and spelt , have hulls. This more primitive morphology (in evolutionary terms) consists of toughened glumes that tightly enclose
468-535: A decline in climate resilience of wheat has been observed. Hunter-gatherers in West Asia harvested wild wheats for thousands of years before they were domesticated , perhaps as early as 21,000 BC, but they formed a minor component of their diets. In this phase of pre-domestication cultivation, early cultivars were spread around the region and slowly developed the traits that came to characterise their domesticated forms. Repeated harvesting and sowing of
546-409: A good crop of grain. The farmer may intervene while the crop is growing to add fertilizer , water by irrigation , or pesticides such as herbicides to kill broad-leaved weeds or insecticides to kill insect pests. The farmer may assess soil minerals, soil water, weed growth, or the arrival of pests to decide timely and cost-effective corrective actions, and crop ripeness and water content to select
624-434: A head of grain is called an ear. Leaves emerge from the shoot apical meristem in a telescoping fashion until the transition to reproduction i.e. flowering. The last leaf produced by a wheat plant is known as the flag leaf. It is denser and has a higher photosynthetic rate than other leaves, to supply carbohydrate to the developing ear. In temperate countries the flag leaf, along with the second and third highest leaf on
702-470: A less reliable method based on grain size. Einkorn and emmer are considered two of the founder crops cultivated by the first farming societies in Neolithic West Asia. These communities also cultivated naked wheats ( T. aestivum and T. durum ) and a now-extinct domesticated form of Zanduri wheat ( T. timopheevii ), as well as a wide variety of other cereal and non-cereal crops. Wheat
780-681: A low quality for human nutrition, according to the DIAAS protein quality evaluation method. Though they contain adequate amounts of the other essential amino acids, at least for adults, wheat proteins are deficient in the essential amino acid lysine . Because the proteins present in the wheat endosperm (gluten proteins) are particularly poor in lysine, white flours are more deficient in lysine compared with whole grains. Significant efforts in plant breeding are made to develop lysine-rich wheat varieties, without success, as of 2017 . Supplementation with proteins from other food sources (mainly legumes )
858-450: A major contribution to the nutritional welfare of the poor. Some wheat species are diploid , with two sets of chromosomes , but many are stable polyploids , with four sets of chromosomes ( tetraploid ) or six ( hexaploid ). Einkorn wheat ( Triticum monococcum ) is diploid (AA, two complements of seven chromosomes, 2n=14). Most tetraploid wheats (e.g. emmer and durum wheat) are derived from wild emmer , T. dicoccoides . Wild emmer
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#1732797589817936-475: A major contributor to increased grain output. More widely over the last 40 years, a massive increase in fertilizer use together with the increased availability of semi-dwarf varieties in developing countries, has greatly increased yields per hectare. In developing countries, use of (mainly nitrogenous) fertilizer increased 25-fold in this period. However, farming systems rely on much more than fertilizer and breeding to improve productivity. A good illustration of this
1014-481: A protein content of about 13%, which is relatively high compared to other major cereals but relatively low in protein quality (supplying essential amino acids ). When eaten as the whole grain , wheat is a source of multiple nutrients and dietary fiber . In a small part of the general population, gluten – which comprises most of the protein in wheat – can trigger coeliac disease , noncoeliac gluten sensitivity , gluten ataxia , and dermatitis herpetiformis . Wheat
1092-470: A source of straw , which could be used for fuel, wicker-making , or wattle and daub construction. Domestic wheat was quickly spread to regions where its wild ancestors did not grow naturally. Emmer was introduced to Cyprus as early as 8600 BC and einkorn c. 7500 BC ; emmer reached Greece by 6500 BC, Egypt shortly after 6000 BC, and Germany and Spain by 5000 BC. "The early Egyptians were developers of bread and
1170-610: A total of 64 angiosperm orders and 416 families. The diversity of flowering plants is not evenly distributed. Nearly all species belong to the eudicot (75%), monocot (23%), and magnoliid (2%) clades. The remaining five clades contain a little over 250 species in total; i.e. less than 0.1% of flowering plant diversity, divided among nine families. The 25 most species-rich of 443 families, containing over 166,000 species between them in their APG circumscriptions, are: The botanical term "angiosperm", from Greek words angeíon ( ἀγγεῖον 'bottle, vessel') and spérma ( σπέρμα 'seed'),
1248-426: A viable crop. When the use of seed drills replaced broadcasting sowing of seed in the 18th century, another great increase in productivity occurred. Yields of pure wheat per unit area increased as methods of crop rotation were applied to land that had long been in cultivation, and the use of fertilizers became widespread. Improved agricultural husbandry has more recently included pervasive automation , starting with
1326-506: A year's supply. Wheat grain was stored after threshing , with the chaff removed. It was then processed into flour using ground stone mortars . Bread made from ground einkorn and the tubers of a form of club rush ( Bolboschoenus glaucus ) was made as early as 12,400 BC. At Çatalhöyük ( c. 7100–6000 BC ), both wholegrain wheat and flour was used to prepare bread, porridge and gruel . Apart from food, wheat may also have been important to Neolithic societies as
1404-858: Is starting to impact plants and is likely to cause many species to become extinct by 2100. Angiosperms are terrestrial vascular plants; like the gymnosperms, they have roots , stems , leaves , and seeds . They differ from other seed plants in several ways. The largest angiosperms are Eucalyptus gum trees of Australia, and Shorea faguetiana , dipterocarp rainforest trees of Southeast Asia, both of which can reach almost 100 metres (330 ft) in height. The smallest are Wolffia duckweeds which float on freshwater, each plant less than 2 millimetres (0.08 in) across. Considering their method of obtaining energy, some 99% of flowering plants are photosynthetic autotrophs , deriving their energy from sunlight and using it to create molecules such as sugars . The remainder are parasitic , whether on fungi like
1482-452: Is Australian wheat growing in the southern winter cropping zone, where, despite low rainfall (300 mm), wheat cropping is successful even with relatively little use of nitrogenous fertilizer. This is achieved by crop rotation with leguminous pastures. The inclusion of a canola crop in the rotations has boosted wheat yields by a further 25%. In these low rainfall areas, better use of available soil-water (and better control of soil erosion)
1560-477: Is a grass widely cultivated for its seed , a cereal grain that is a staple food around the world. The many species of wheat together make up the genus Triticum ( / ˈ t r ɪ t ɪ k ə m / ); the most widely grown is common wheat ( T. aestivum ). The archaeological record suggests that wheat was first cultivated in the regions of the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BC. Botanically,
1638-574: Is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value , DV) of multiple dietary minerals , such as manganese , phosphorus , magnesium , zinc , and iron (table). The B vitamins , niacin (36% DV), thiamine (33% DV), and vitamin B6 (23% DV), are present in significant amounts (table). Wheat is a significant source of vegetable proteins in human food, having a relatively high protein content compared to other major cereals. However, wheat proteins have
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#17327975898171716-447: Is a stout grass of medium to tall height. Its stem is jointed and usually hollow, forming a straw. There can be many stems on one plant. It has long narrow leaves, their bases sheathing the stem, one above each joint. At the top of the stem is the flower head, containing some 20 to 100 flowers. Each flower contains both male and female parts. The flowers are wind-pollinated , with over 99% of pollination events being self-pollinations and
1794-400: Is achieved by retaining the stubble after harvesting and by minimizing tillage. Pests and diseases consume 21.47% of the world's wheat crop annually. There are many wheat diseases, mainly caused by fungi, bacteria, and viruses . Plant breeding to develop new disease-resistant varieties, and sound crop management practices are important for preventing disease. Fungicides, used to prevent
1872-459: Is also important to identify periods of higher risk from the climate. Farmers benefit from knowing when the 'flag leaf' (last leaf) appears, as this leaf represents about 75% of photosynthesis reactions during the grain filling period, and so should be preserved from disease or insect attacks to ensure a good yield. Several systems exist to identify crop stages, with the Feekes and Zadoks scales being
1950-402: Is commonly used to compensate for this deficiency, since the limitation of a single essential amino acid causes the others to break down and become excreted, which is especially important during growth. Consumed worldwide by billions of people, wheat is a significant food for human nutrition, particularly in the least developed countries where wheat products are primary foods. When eaten as
2028-482: Is derived from the Greek words ἀγγεῖον / angeion ('container, vessel') and σπέρμα / sperma ('seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed within a fruit. The group was formerly called Magnoliophyta . Angiosperms are by far the most diverse group of land plants with 64 orders , 416 families , approximately 13,000 known genera and 300,000 known species . They include all forbs (flowering plants without
2106-617: Is found in the Mediterranean; the rest are located around the southern coast of Australia. Some species are endemic seagrasses of Western Australia , all the Australian species are found in that region's diverse habitats. This arrangement was divided into two complexes: the Posidonia australis and Posidonia ostenfeldii groups. Some species descriptions may only be regional characteristics, and may need further revision. In 2006
2184-418: Is greater than for all other crops combined. Global demand for wheat is increasing due to the unique viscoelastic and adhesive properties of gluten proteins, which facilitate the production of processed foods, whose consumption is increasing as a result of the worldwide industrialization process and westernization of diets . Wheat became a central agriculture endeavor in the worldwide British Empire in
2262-473: Is itself the result of a hybridization between two diploid wild grasses, T. urartu and a wild goatgrass such as Ae. speltoides . The hybridization that formed wild emmer (AABB, four complements of seven chromosomes in two groups, 4n=28) occurred in the wild, long before domestication, and was driven by natural selection . Hexaploid wheats evolved in farmers' fields as wild emmer hybridized with another goatgrass, Ae. squarrosa or Ae. tauschii , to make
2340-629: Is likely to be prioritised in drought-adapted crops, while stem non-structural carbohydrate is prioritised in varieties developed for countries where disease is a bigger issue. Depending on variety, wheat may be awned or not awned. Producing awns incurs a cost in grain number, but wheat awns photosynthesise more efficiently than their leaves with regards to water usage, so awns are much more frequent in varieties of wheat grown in hot drought-prone countries than those generally seen in temperate countries. For this reason, awned varieties could become more widely grown due to climate change . In Europe, however,
2418-458: Is more diverse, with domesticated varieties falling into two major groups: hulled or non-shattering, in which threshing separates the whole spikelet ; and free-threshing, where the individual grains are separated. Both varieties probably existed in prehistory, but over time free-threshing cultivars became more common. Wild emmer was first cultivated in the southern Levant , as early as 9600 BC. Genetic studies have found that, like einkorn, it
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2496-399: Is normally planted after tilling the soil by ploughing and then harrowing to kill weeds and create an even surface. The seeds are then scattered on the surface, or drilled into the soil in rows. Winter wheat lies dormant during a winter freeze. It needs to develop to a height of 10 to 15 cm before the cold intervenes, so as to be able to survive the winter; it requires a period with
2574-511: Is not the same as a wheat allergy . Other diseases triggered by eating wheat are non-coeliac gluten sensitivity (estimated to affect 0.5% to 13% of the general population ), gluten ataxia , and dermatitis herpetiformis . Certain short-chain carbohydrates present in wheat, known as FODMAPs (mainly fructose polymers ), may be the cause of non-coeliac gluten sensitivity. As of 2019 , reviews have concluded that FODMAPs only explain certain gastrointestinal symptoms, such as bloating , but not
2652-429: Is often called corn in countries including Britain). Since 1960, world production of wheat and other grain crops has tripled and is expected to grow further through the middle of the 21st century. Global demand for wheat is increasing because of the usefulness of gluten to the food industry. Wheat is an important source of carbohydrates . Globally, it is the leading source of vegetable proteins in human food, having
2730-493: Is valuable to impart viscoelastic functional qualities in dough , enabling the preparation of diverse processed foods such as breads, noodles, and pasta that facilitate wheat consumption. Raw red winter wheat is 13% water, 71% carbohydrates including 12% dietary fiber , 13% protein , and 2% fat (table). Some 75–80% of the protein content is as gluten . In a reference amount of 100 grams (3.5 oz), wheat provides 1,368 kilojoules (327 kilocalories) of food energy and
2808-491: The Alismatales grow in marine environments, spreading with rhizomes that grow through the mud in sheltered coastal waters. Some specialised angiosperms are able to flourish in extremely acid or alkaline habitats. The sundews , many of which live in nutrient-poor acid bogs , are carnivorous plants , able to derive nutrients such as nitrate from the bodies of trapped insects. Other flowers such as Gentiana verna ,
2886-436: The extra-digestive symptoms that people with non-coeliac gluten sensitivity may develop. Other wheat proteins, amylase-trypsin inhibitors, have been identified as the possible activator of the innate immune system in coeliac disease and non-coeliac gluten sensitivity. These proteins are part of the plant's natural defense against insects and may cause intestinal inflammation in humans. In 2022, world wheat production
2964-853: The hexaploid wheats including bread wheat . A 2007 molecular phylogeny of the wheats gives the following not fully-resolved cladogram of major cultivated species; the large amount of hybridisation makes resolution difficult. Markings like "6N" indicate the degree of polyploidy of each species: Barley 2N, rye 2N/4N, and other cereals Triticum monococcum ( einkorn ) 2N × Aegilotriticum hybrids ( Aegilops x Triticum ) 6N Triticum timopheevii (zanduri wheat) and others 4N Triticum aestivum ( common or bread wheat ) 6N Triticum durum/turgidum ( durum wheat) 4N Triticum spelta ( spelt ) 6N Triticum turanicum ( khorasan wheat ) 4N Triticum dicoccum ( emmer ) 4N many other species During 10,000 years of cultivation, numerous forms of wheat, many of them hybrids , have developed under
3042-460: The orchids for part or all of their life-cycle, or on other plants , either wholly like the broomrapes, Orobanche , or partially like the witchweeds, Striga . In terms of their environment, flowering plants are cosmopolitan, occupying a wide range of habitats on land, in fresh water and in the sea. On land, they are the dominant plant group in every habitat except for frigid moss-lichen tundra and coniferous forest . The seagrasses in
3120-427: The whole grain , wheat supplies multiple nutrients and dietary fiber recommended for children and adults. In genetically susceptible people, wheat gluten can trigger coeliac disease . Coeliac disease affects about 1% of the general population in developed countries . The only known effective treatment is a strict lifelong gluten-free diet . While coeliac disease is caused by a reaction to wheat proteins, it
3198-892: The "Big Five" extinction events in Earth's history, only the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event had occurred while angiosperms dominated plant life on the planet. Today, the Holocene extinction affects all kingdoms of complex life on Earth, and conservation measures are necessary to protect plants in their habitats in the wild ( in situ ), or failing that, ex situ in seed banks or artificial habitats like botanic gardens . Otherwise, around 40% of plant species may become extinct due to human actions such as habitat destruction , introduction of invasive species , unsustainable logging , land clearing and overharvesting of medicinal or ornamental plants . Further, climate change
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3276-617: The 19th century, and remains of great importance in Australia, Canada and India. In Australia, with vast lands and a limited work force, expanded production depended on technological advances, especially regarding irrigation and machinery. By the 1840s there were 900 growers in South Australia . They used "Ridley's Stripper", a reaper-harvester perfected by John Ridley in 1843, to remove the heads of grain. In Canada, modern farm implements made large scale wheat farming possible from
3354-513: The 20th century, global wheat output expanded by about 5-fold, but until about 1955 most of this reflected increases in wheat crop area, with lesser (about 20%) increases in crop yields per unit area. After 1955 however, there was a ten-fold increase in the rate of wheat yield improvement per year, and this became the major factor allowing global wheat production to increase. Thus technological innovation and scientific crop management with synthetic nitrogen fertilizer , irrigation and wheat breeding were
3432-560: The common ancestor of all living gymnosperms before the end of the Carboniferous , over 300 million years ago. In the Cretaceous , angiosperms diversified explosively , becoming the dominant group of plants across the planet. Agriculture is almost entirely dependent on angiosperms, and a small number of flowering plant families supply nearly all plant-based food and livestock feed. Rice , maize and wheat provide half of
3510-414: The deepest of arable crops, extending as far down as 2 metres (6 ft 7 in). While the roots of a wheat plant are growing, the plant also accumulates an energy store in its stem, in the form of fructans , which helps the plant to yield under drought and disease pressure, but it has been observed that there is a trade-off between root growth and stem non-structural carbohydrate reserves. Root growth
3588-485: The domestic form comes after c. 8800 BC in southern Turkey, at Çayönü , Cafer Höyük , and possibly Nevalı Çori . Genetic evidence indicates that it was domesticated in multiple places independently. Wild emmer wheat ( T. turgidum subsp. dicoccoides ) is less widespread than einkorn, favouring the rocky basaltic and limestone soils found in the hilly flanks of the Fertile Crescent. It
3666-766: The earliest known wheat with sufficient gluten for yeasted breads was found in a granary at Assiros in Macedonia dated to 1350 BC. From the Middle East , wheat continued to spread across Europe and to the Americas in the Columbian exchange . In the British Isles, wheat straw ( thatch ) was used for roofing in the Bronze Age , and remained in common use until the late 19th century. White wheat bread
3744-567: The farm and because of poor roads, inadequate storage technologies, inefficient supply chains and farmers' inability to bring the produce into retail markets dominated by small shopkeepers. Some 10% of total wheat production is lost at farm level, another 10% is lost because of poor storage and road networks, and additional amounts are lost at the retail level. In the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, as well as North China, irrigation has been
3822-456: The farmer have a detailed understanding of each stage of development in the growing plants. In particular, spring fertilizers , herbicides , fungicides , and growth regulators are typically applied only at specific stages of plant development. For example, it is currently recommended that the second application of nitrogen is best done when the ear (not visible at this stage) is about 1 cm in size (Z31 on Zadoks scale ). Knowledge of stages
3900-659: The flowering plants as an unranked clade without a formal Latin name (angiosperms). A formal classification was published alongside the 2009 revision in which the flowering plants rank as the subclass Magnoliidae. From 1998, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) has reclassified the angiosperms, with updates in the APG II system in 2003, the APG III system in 2009, and the APG IV system in 2016. In 2019,
3978-601: The glumes are fragile and the rachis tough. On threshing, the chaff breaks up, releasing the grains. Wheat grain classes are named by colour, season, and hardness. The classes used in the United States are: Wheat is a staple cereal worldwide. Raw wheat berries can be ground into flour or, using hard durum wheat only, can be ground into semolina ; germinated and dried creating malt ; crushed or cut into cracked wheat; parboiled (or steamed), dried, crushed and de-branned into bulgur also known as groats . If
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#17327975898174056-562: The grains of wild grasses led to the creation of domestic strains, as mutant forms ('sports') of wheat were more amenable to cultivation. In domesticated wheat, grains are larger, and the seeds (inside the spikelets ) remain attached to the ear by a toughened rachis during harvesting. In wild strains, a more fragile rachis allows the ear to shatter easily, dispersing the spikelets. Selection for larger grains and non-shattering heads by farmers might not have been deliberately intended, but simply have occurred because these traits made gathering
4134-479: The grains, and (in domesticated wheats) a semi-brittle rachis that breaks easily on threshing. The result is that when threshed, the wheat ear breaks up into spikelets. To obtain the grain, further processing, such as milling or pounding, is needed to remove the hulls or husks. Hulled wheats are often stored as spikelets because the toughened glumes give good protection against pests of stored grain. In free-threshing (or naked) forms, such as durum wheat and common wheat,
4212-519: The late 1840s. By 1879, Saskatchewan was the center, followed by Alberta , Manitoba and Ontario , as the spread of railway lines allowed easy exports to Britain. By 1910, wheat made up 22% of Canada's exports, rising to 25% in 1930 despite the sharp decline in prices during the worldwide Great Depression . Efforts to expand wheat production in South Africa, Kenya and India were stymied by low yields and disease. However, by 2000 India had become
4290-483: The main drivers of wheat output growth in the second half of the century. There were some significant decreases in wheat crop area, for instance in North America. Better seed storage and germination ability (and hence a smaller requirement to retain harvested crop for next year's seed) is another 20th-century technological innovation. In Medieval England, farmers saved one-quarter of their wheat harvest as seed for
4368-518: The manner of vines or lianas . The number of species of flowering plants is estimated to be in the range of 250,000 to 400,000. This compares to around 12,000 species of moss and 11,000 species of pteridophytes . The APG system seeks to determine the number of families , mostly by molecular phylogenetics . In the 2009 APG III there were 415 families. The 2016 APG IV added five new orders (Boraginales, Dilleniales, Icacinales, Metteniusales and Vahliales), along with some new families, for
4446-568: The most widely used. Each scale is a standard system which describes successive stages reached by the crop during the agricultural season. For example, the stage of pollen formation from the mother cell, and the stages between anthesis and maturity, are susceptible to high temperatures, and this adverse effect is made worse by water stress. Technological advances in soil preparation and seed placement at planting time, use of crop rotation and fertilizers to improve plant growth, and advances in harvesting methods have all combined to promote wheat as
4524-488: The need to systematically remove vegetation or till the soil. They may also have exploited natural wetlands and floodplains to practice décrue farming , sowing seeds in the soil left behind by receding floodwater. It was harvested with stone-bladed sickles . The ease of storing wheat and other cereals led farming households to become gradually more reliant on it over time, especially after they developed individual storage facilities that were large enough to hold more than
4602-473: The next crop, leaving only three-quarters for food and feed consumption. By 1999, the global average seed use of wheat was about 6% of output. In the 21st century, rising temperatures associated with global warming are reducing wheat yield in several locations. Wheat is an annual crop. It can be planted in autumn and harvested in early summer as winter wheat in climates that are not too severe, or planted in spring and harvested in autumn as spring wheat. It
4680-580: The plant, supply the majority of carbohydrate in the grain and their condition is paramount to yield formation. Wheat is unusual among plants in having more stomata on the upper ( adaxial ) side of the leaf, than on the under ( abaxial ) side. It has been theorised that this might be an effect of it having been domesticated and cultivated longer than any other plant. Winter wheat generally produces up to 15 leaves per shoot and spring wheat up to 9 and winter crops may have up to 35 tillers (shoots) per plant (depending on cultivar). Wheat roots are among
4758-461: The raw wheat is broken into parts at the mill, as is usually done, the outer husk or bran can be used in several ways. Wheat is a major ingredient in such foods as bread , porridge , crackers , biscuits , muesli , pancakes , pasta , pies , pastries , pizza , semolina , cakes , cookies , muffins , rolls , doughnuts , gravy , beer , vodka , boza (a fermented beverage ), and breakfast cereals . In manufacturing wheat products, gluten
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#17327975898174836-399: The rest cross-pollinations . The flower is housed in a pair of small leaflike glumes . The two (male) stamens and (female) stigmas protrude outside the glumes. The flowers are grouped into spikelets , each with between two and six flowers. Each fertilised carpel develops into a wheat grain or berry; botanically a fruit , it is often called a seed. The grains ripen to a golden yellow;
4914-452: The right moment to harvest. Harvesting involves reaping , cutting the stems to gather the crop; and threshing , breaking the ears to release the grain; both steps are carried out by a combine harvester . The grain is then dried so that it can be stored safe from mould fungi. Wheat normally needs between 110 and 130 days between sowing and harvest, depending upon climate, seed type, and soil conditions. Optimal crop management requires that
4992-517: The second largest producer of wheat in the world. In the 19th century the American wheat frontier moved rapidly westward. By the 1880s 70% of American exports went to British ports. The first successful grain elevator was built in Buffalo in 1842. The cost of transport fell rapidly. In 1869 it cost 37 cents to transport a bushel of wheat from Chicago to Liverpool . In 1905 it was 10 cents. In
5070-513: The seeds easier; nevertheless such 'incidental' selection was an important part of crop domestication . As the traits that improve wheat as a food source involve the loss of the plant's natural seed dispersal mechanisms, highly domesticated strains of wheat cannot survive in the wild. Wild einkorn wheat ( T. monococcum subsp. boeoticum ) grows across Southwest Asia in open parkland and steppe environments. It comprises three distinct races , only one of which, native to Southeast Anatolia ,
5148-568: The spring gentian, are adapted to the alkaline conditions found on calcium -rich chalk and limestone , which give rise to often dry topographies such as limestone pavement . As for their growth habit , the flowering plants range from small, soft herbaceous plants , often living as annuals or biennials that set seed and die after one growing season, to large perennial woody trees that may live for many centuries and grow to many metres in height. Some species grow tall without being self-supporting like trees by climbing on other plants in
5226-405: The temperature at or near freezing, its dormancy then being broken by the thaw or rise in temperature. Spring wheat does not undergo dormancy. Wheat requires a deep soil , preferably a loam with organic matter, and available minerals including soil nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. An acid and peaty soil is not suitable. Wheat needs some 30 to 38 cm of rain in the growing season to form
5304-459: The three families Cymodoceaceae , Posidoniaceae and Ruppiaceae form a monophyletic group. Earlier systems classified this genus in the family Potamogetonaceae or in the family Posidoniaceae but belonging to order Zosterales . Posidonia oceanica has nitrogen fixation capabilities via symbiosis and other species may as well. This is a list of species that are contained by the genus: The species described by Linnaeus , Posidonia oceanica ,
5382-614: The use of threshing machines , and progressing to large and costly machines like the combine harvester which greatly increased productivity. At the same time, better varieties such as Norin 10 wheat , developed in Japan in the 1930s, or the dwarf wheat developed by Norman Borlaug in the Green Revolution , greatly increased yields. In addition to gaps in farming system technology and knowledge, some large wheat grain-producing countries have significant losses after harvest at
5460-542: The use of the oven and developed baking into one of the first large-scale food production industries." By 4000 BC, wheat had reached the British Isles and Scandinavia . Wheat likely appeared in China 's lower Yellow River around 2600 BC. The oldest evidence for hexaploid wheat has been confirmed through DNA analysis of wheat seeds, dating to around 6400–6200 BC, recovered from Çatalhöyük . As of 2023,
5538-455: The wheat kernel is a caryopsis , a type of fruit . Wheat is grown on a larger area of land than any other food crop (220.7 million hectares or 545 million acres in 2021). World trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined. In 2021, world wheat production was 771 million tonnes (850 million short tons), making it the second most-produced cereal after maize (known as corn in North America and Australia; wheat
5616-559: The world's staple calorie intake, and all three plants are cereals from the Poaceae family (colloquially known as grasses). Other families provide important industrial plant products such as wood , paper and cotton , and supply numerous ingredients for beverages , sugar production , traditional medicine and modern pharmaceuticals . Flowering plants are also commonly grown for decorative purposes , with certain flowers playing significant cultural roles in many societies. Out of
5694-486: Was 808.4 million tonnes, led by China, India, and Russia which collectively provided 43.22% of the world total. As of 2019 , the largest exporters were Russia (32 million tonnes), United States (27), Canada (23) and France (20), while the largest importers were Indonesia (11 million tonnes), Egypt (10.4) and Turkey (10.0). In 2021, wheat was grown on 220.7 million hectares or 545 million acres worldwide, more than any other food crop. World trade in wheat
5772-483: Was coined in the form "Angiospermae" by Paul Hermann in 1690, including only flowering plants whose seeds were enclosed in capsules. The term angiosperm fundamentally changed in meaning in 1827 with Robert Brown , when angiosperm came to mean a seed plant with enclosed ovules. In 1851, with Wilhelm Hofmeister 's work on embryo-sacs, Angiosperm came to have its modern meaning of all the flowering plants including Dicotyledons and Monocotyledons. The APG system treats
5850-462: Was domesticated in southeastern Anatolia, but only once. The earliest secure archaeological evidence for domestic emmer comes from Çayönü, c. 8300–7600 BC , where distinctive scars on the spikelets indicated that they came from a hulled domestic variety. Slightly earlier finds have been reported from Tell Aswad in Syria, c. 8500–8200 BC , but these were identified using
5928-429: Was domesticated. The main feature that distinguishes domestic einkorn from wild is that its ears do not shatter without pressure, making it dependent on humans for dispersal and reproduction. It also tends to have wider grains. Wild einkorn was collected at sites such as Tell Abu Hureyra ( c. 10,700–9000 BC ) and Mureybet ( c. 9800–9300 BC ), but the earliest archaeological evidence for
6006-601: Was historically a high status food, but during the nineteenth century it became in Britain an item of mass consumption, displacing oats , barley and rye from diets in the North of the country. It became "a sign of a high degree of culture". After 1860, the enormous expansion of wheat production in the United States flooded the world market, lowering prices by 40%, and (along with the expansion of potato growing) made
6084-456: Was relatively uncommon for the first thousand years of the Neolithic (when barley predominated), but became a staple after around 8500 BC. Early wheat cultivation did not demand much labour. Initially, farmers took advantage of wheat's ability to establish itself in annual grasslands by enclosing fields against grazing animals and re-sowing stands after they had been harvested, without
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