Secale cereale* L. Sp. Pl. 84
(1753).
Classification. (GPWG 2001) : Subfamily Pooideae.
Tribe Triticeae.
Type of Basionym or
Protologue Information: LT: (LINN-102.1). LT designated by Bowden,
Canad. J. Bot. 40: 1704 (1962).
Key references
(books and floras): [1952] C.A.Gardner, Flora of Western Australia 1
Gramineae (197), [1981] M.Lazarides in J.Jessop (ed)., Flora of
Central Australia, [2002] D.Sharp & B.K.Simon, AusGrass, Grasses of
Australia, [2006] J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst, F.M.James, Grasses of South
Australia (273), [2008] S.W.L.Jacobs, R.D.B.Walley & D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses
of New South Wales (366), [2009] A.Wilson (ed.). Flora of Australia,
Vol 44A. Poaceae 2 (105).
Illustrations:
[1952] C.A.Gardner, Flora of Western Australia 1 Gramineae (196,
Pl. 58), [2006] J.Jessop, G.R.M.Dashorst, F.M.James, Grasses of South
Australia (274, fig. 213), [1984]
N.T.Burbidge. rev. S.W.L.Jacobs, Australian Grasses (239), [2008] S.W.L.Jacobs, R.D.B.Whalley
& D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South Wales, 4th edn (366), [2009].
A.Wilson (ed.), Flora of Australia 44A: Poaceae 2 (106, Fig.15;
109, Fig.16).
Habit. Annual.
Culms erect, 60–150 cm tall, 6–7 -noded. Leaf-sheaths glabrous on surface or
hairy. Leaf-sheath auricles present. Ligule an eciliate membrane, 1–2 mm long,
hyaline, truncate. Leaf-blades flat, 10–22 cm long, 6–15 mm wide. Leaf-blade
surface glabrous or indumented.
Inflorescence.
Inflorescence solid, a raceme. Racemes 1, 5–15 cm long, bearing 40–50 fertile
spikelets on each. Rhachis tough.
Spikelets.
Spikelets sessile. Fertile spikelets 1 or more flowered, with 1 fertile floret,
comprising 2 fertile floret(s), with diminished florets at the apex, cuneate,
laterally compressed, 12–15 mm long.
Glumes. Glumes
similar. Lower glume linear or oblong, coriaceous, keeled, 1-keeled, 1 -nerved.
Lower glume surface indumented. Lower glume apex muticous or mucronate. Upper
glume linear, 10–12 mm long, coriaceous, keeled, 1-keeled, 1 -nerved. Upper
glume apex mucronate.
Florets.
Fertile lemma 14–16(–18) mm long, keeled, 3–5 -nerved. Lemma apex awned, 1
-awned. Median (principal) awn 20–50 mm long overall. Palea 2 -nerved.
Lodicules present. Anthers 3. Grain 8–10 mm long.
Continental
Distribution: Europe, Africa, Temperate Asia, Tropical Asia, Australasia,
North America, and South America.
Australian
Distribution: Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales,
Victoria, Tasmania.
Western Australia:
Drummond. South Australia: Gairdner-Torrens Basin, Murray, Yorke
Peninsula, Southern Lofty. New South Wales: Southern Tablelands,
North-Western Slopes, Central-Western Slopes, North-Western Plains. Victoria:
Gippsland Plain, Lowan Mallee, Murray Mallee, Volcanic Plain, Wimmera. Tasmania:
No region given.
Notes.
Cultivated for grain and forage. An intergeneric hybrid between Secale
cereale and Triticum aeastivum, x Triticosecale or
'Triticale' is grown in some regions for grain and feed. It occasionally occurs
as an escape and is intermediate to the parents.
Usually appearing as
an escape and not persisting, sometimes planted as a sand-binder or fodder
crop.
