Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grass that is one of the most important sources of food in the world. Wheat belongs to the Poaceae family of the genus Triticum. Although wheat exists in numerous different species, it characteristically appears with long slender leaves, heads with a large number of small flowers that yield the seeds, and hollow stems. The most important varieties include Triticum durum, which is used to make various types of pasta, Triticum aestivum, which is used for bread, and Triticum compactum, which is used for baking cakes and biscuits.

Archaeological excavation reveals that wheat was first used in agriculture some 10,000 years ago. The first large-scale wheat farming took place in the Middle East and spread from there to Europe, northern Africa, and across ...