Culms 80-150 cm, decumbent; nodes
glabrous or pubescent; internodes
mostly hollow, solid for 1 cm below the spikes. Blades to 20 mm wide, pubescent. Spikes 5-10 cm, about as wide as thick to wider than thick, cylindrical
to strongly flattened; rachises
glabrous or shortly ciliate at the nodes and margins; internodes (0.5)2-5
mm, disarticulating with pressure, dispersal units wedge-shaped. Spikelets 10-16 mm, elliptical to
ovate, with 3-4 florets, usually only the lower 2 seed-forming. Glumes 6-10 mm, coriaceous, tightly appressed
to the lower florets, with 1 prominent keel, keel winged only in the upper 2/3,
terminating in a tooth; lemmas 9-12
mm, awned, awns on the lowest 2 lemmas to 17 cm, upper lemmas unawned or
shortly awned; paleas not splitting
at maturity. Endosperm flinty. HaplomesAuB. 2n = 28.
Triticum dicoccum is the domesticated derivative of T. dicoccoides. It was once grown fairly extensively
in central and southern Europe, southern Russia, northern Africa, and Arabia,
because it can withstand poor, waterlogged soils. It is rarely grown now. It
was introduced to the Flora region as
a feed grain and forage for livestock. Currently, its primary use in the region
is for plant breeding; it is also sold for human consumption as farro in specialty
food markets.