Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus Triticum, the most widely grown is common wheat (Triticum aestivum). Wheat is a stout grass of medium to tall height. Its stem is jointed and usually hollow, forming a straw. There can be many stems on one plant. It has long narrow leaves, their bases sheathing the stem, one above each joint. At the top of the stem is the flower head, containing some 20 to 100 flowers. Each flower contains both male and female parts. The flower, which is wind-pollinated, is housed in a pair of small leaflike glumes. The two (male) stamens and (female) stigmas protrude outside the glumes. The flowers are grouped into spikelets, each with between two and six flowers. Each fertilised carpel develops into a wheat grain or berry botanically a fruit, it is often called a seed. The grains ripen to a golden yellow a head of grain is called an ear. Wheat is an annual crop. It can be planted in autumn and harvested in early summer as winter wheat in climates that are not too severe, or planted in spring and harvested in autumn as spring wheat.
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