Editing Emmer (section)

=== Taxonomy and phylogeny ===

{{see also|Wheat#Genetics and breeding|Wheat taxonomy}}

[[File:Polyploid wheat origins.svg|thumb|center|upright=3|Wild emmer is one of the ancestors of [[bread wheat]]; both species are [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrids]].<ref name="Golovnina-2007"/>]]

Strong similarities in morphology and genetics show that wild emmer (''T. dicoccoides'' <small>Koern.</small>) is the wild ancestor and a [[crop wild relative]] of domesticated emmer. Wild emmer still grows wild in the Near East. It is a [[tetraploid]] wheat formed by the hybridization of two [[diploid]] wild grasses, wild red einkorn (''[[Triticum urartu]]''), and the goatgrass ''[[Aegilops speltoides]]''.<ref name="Golovnina-2007">{{cite journal |last1=Golovnina |first1=K. A. |last2=Glushkov |first2=S. A. |last3=Blinov |first3=A. G. |last4=Mayorov |first4=V. I. |last5=Adkison |first5=L. R. |last6=Goncharov |first6=N. P. |title=Molecular phylogeny of the genus Triticum L |journal=[[Plant Systematics and Evolution]] |volume=264 |issue=3–4 |date=2007-02-12 |doi=10.1007/s00606-006-0478-x |pages=195–216 |bibcode=2007PSyEv.264..195G |s2cid=39102602 }}</ref>

[[File:Flora of Israel - Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccoides.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|Wild emmer still grows in Israel.]]

The botanists [[Friedrich August Körnicke]] and [[Aaron Aaronsohn]] in the late 19th-century were the first to describe the wild emmer native to [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] and adjacent countries.<ref>{{cite book |last=Zohary |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Zohary |editor=David Heller |title=A New Analytical Flora of Israel |publisher=Am Oved |edition=2 |location=Tel Aviv |year=1998 |page=562 |language=he |oclc=916628298}} (first edition 1976)</ref><ref name= "Dalman2020">{{cite book |author-last=Dalman |author-first=Gustaf |author-link=Gustaf Dalman |title=Work and Customs in Israel, volume II |publisher=Dar Al Nasher |location=Ramallah |year=2020 |volume=2 (Agriculture) |pages=288–289 |translator=Robert Schick |editor=Nadia Abdulhadi-Sukhtian |isbn=978-9950-385-84-9 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Aaronsohn |first=A. |author-link=Aaron Aaronsohn |title=Agricultural and botanical explorations in Israel |publisher=[[United States Department of Agriculture]] |location=[[Washington, D.C.]]|year=1910 |pages=42-ff., 46-ff  |oclc=631059153 }}</ref> Earlier, in 1864, the Austrian botanist [[Carl Friedrich Kotschy]] collected specimens of the same wild emmer, without stating where he had collected them.<ref name="Shmida2005">{{cite book |author-last=Shmida |author-first=Avi |year=2005 |title=MAPA's Dictionary of Plants and Flowers in Israel |publisher=MAPA |location=Tel-Aviv |page=393 |language=he |oclc=716569354}}</ref> Although cultivated in ancient Egypt, wild emmer has not been grown for human consumption in recent history,<ref name= "Dalman2020"/> perhaps owing to the difficulty with which the chaff is separated from the seed kernels, formerly requiring the spikes to be pounded with mortar and pestle.<ref name="Amar 2015">{{cite book |last=Amar |first=Zohar |authorlink=Zohar Amar |title=Flora and Fauna in Maimonides' Teachings |oclc=783455868 |publisher=Machon Hatorah Veharetz |location=Kfar Darom |year=2015 |pages=96–97 |language=he}}</ref> Wild emmer is distinguished from common wheat by its tougher ear [[rachis]] and the beards releasing the grains easily, by their ear rachis becoming brittle when ripe and their firmly fitting beards.<ref name= "Dalman2020"/> Wild emmer grows to a height of {{convert|50|–|70|cm|abbr=on}}, and bears an elongated spike measuring {{convert|10|–|15|cm|abbr=on}}, with long, protruding awns extending upwards.<ref name="Shmida2005"/> Avni ''et al.'', 2017 provides a complete emmer [[genome]].<ref name="Architecture">{{cite journal |year=2017 |publisher=[[American Association for the Advancement of Science]] |journal=[[Science (journal) |Science]] |last1=Avni |first1=Raz |last2=Nave |first2=Moran |last3=Barad |first3=Omer |last4=Baruch |first4=Kobi |last5=Twardziok |first5=Sven |display-authors=etal |pages=93–97 |volume=357 |issue=6346 |s2cid=19943904 |doi=10.1126/science.aan0032 |title=Wild emmer genome architecture and diversity elucidate wheat evolution and domestication |pmid=28684525 |bibcode=2017Sci...357...93A |doi-access=free}}</ref>