Culms 80-120 cm; nodes
glabrous or pubescent; internodes
hollow, even immediately below the spikes. Blades
12-20 mm wide, sparsely pubescent. Spikes
6-20 cm, about as wide as thick, slender, almost cylindrical, narrowing
distally; rachises glabrous or
sparsely hairy at the nodes and margins, disarticulating with pressure,
disarticulation units barrel-shaped or wedge-shaped. Spikelets 12-16 mm, with 3-5 florets, 1-3 seed-forming. Glumes 5-10 mm, coriaceous, tightly appressed
to the lower florets, truncate, with 1 prominent keel, keel winged to the base,
terminating in a tooth; lemmas 8-12
mm, toothed or awned, awns on the lower 2 lemmas to 10 cm, the third lemma
sometimes awned, awns to 2 cm; paleas
not splitting at maturity. Endosperm usually flinty. HaplomesAuBD. 2n = 42.
In the Flora region, Triticum spelta is grown for the specialty food and feed grain
markets. It is known for yielding a pastry-grade flour not suitable for bread
making unless mixed with T. aestivum, the bread-quality flour. Modern
plant breeding programs are improving its gluten profile to upgrade its bread-making
quality. Consequently, claims that T.
spelta is a safe option for consumers with gluten intolerance are
misleading.
The ability of Triticum spelta to break under pressure
into barrel-shaped units similar to those found in Aegilops cylindrica-distinguishes it from all other members of Triticum.
