Triticum

Triticum is a genus of wild and domesticated grasses, family Poaceae, order Poales, commonly known as wheat, comprising at least twenty species that include both diploid and polyploid forms. The archaeological record indicates wheat was first cultivated in the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BC, and it now occupies more cultivated land worldwide than any other food crop, ranking second only to maize in total cereal production. The genus shows remarkable genetic diversity through polyploidy, with some species diploid, others tetraploid and others hexaploid; the most widely cultivated form, common wheat, Triticum aestivum, is hexaploid. Wheat plants have jointed, typically hollow stems, long narrow leaves, and flower heads bearing twenty to a hundred individual flowers, and a defining trait of domestication is a toughened rachis that keeps seeds attached through harvesting, a feature absent in wild relatives. Cultivated species range from ancient forms such as einkorn and emmer to modern bread and durum wheats, each suited to different agricultural and culinary uses.