Aegilops

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Monocots
Cladus: Commelinids
Ordo: Poales

Familia: Poaceae
Subfamilia: Pooideae
Tribus: Hordeeae
Subtribus: Triticinae
Genus: Aegilops
Species: (23)
A. bicornis – A. biuncialis – A. columnaris – A. comosa – A. crassa – A. cylindrica – A. geniculata – A. juvenalis – A. kotschyi – A. longissima – A. markgrafii – A. mutica – A. neglecta – A. peregrina – A. searsii – A. sharonensis – A. speltoides – A. tauschii – A. triuncialis – A. umbellulata – A. uniaristata – A. vavilovii – A. ventricosa

Nothospecies: A. × insulae-cypri

Name

Aegilops L., Sp. Pl.: 1050. 1753, nom. cons.; Gen. Pl., ed. 5: 470. 1754.

Type species: Aegilops triuncialis L., Sp. Pl.: 1051. 1753; typ. cons..

Synonyms

Homotypic
Aegicon Adanson, Fam. 2: 36, 513. 1763.
Perlaria Heist. ex Fabr., Enum., ed. 2: 371. 1763, nom. superfl.
Aegilopodes Á.Löve, Biol. Zentralbl. 101: 207. 1982.
Triticum sect. Aegilops (L.) Godr. & Gren., Fl. France 3: 601. 1856.
Triticum subg. Aegilops (L.) Schmalh. Fl. Ssredn. Jushn. Rossii 2: 661. 1879.
Triticum subg. Aegilops (L.) C.Yen & J.L.Yang, Xiao mai zu sheng wu xi tong xue 1: 124. 1999, isonym.

Heterotypic
Amblyopyrum Eig, Agric. Rec. Agric. Exp. Sta. Tel Aviv 2: 199. 1929.
Aegilemma Á.Löve, Biol. Zentralbl. 101: 207. 1982.
Aegilonearum Á.Löve, Biol. Zentralbl. 101: 208. 1982.
Chennapyrum Á.Löve, Biol. Zentralbl. 101: 207. 1982.
Comopyrum (Jaub. & Spach) Á.Löve, Biol. Zentralbl. 101: 207. 1982.
Cylindropyrum (Jaub. & Spach) Á.Löve, Biol. Zentralbl. 101: 207. 1982.
Gastropyrum (Jaub. & Spach) Á.Löve, Biol. Zentralbl. 101: 208. 1982.
Kiharapyrum Á.Löve, Biol. Zentralbl. 101: 207. 1982.
Orrhopygium Á.Löve, Biol. Zentralbl. 101: 206. 1982.
Patropyrum Á.Löve, Biol. Zentralbl. 101: 206. 1982.
Sitopsis (Jaub. & Spach) Á.Löve, Biol. Zentralbl. 101: 206. 1982.

References
Primary references

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species Plantarum. Tomus II: 1050. Reference page.
Linnaeus, C. 1754. Genera Plantarum, ed. 5: 470. Reference page.

Additional references

Scholz, H. & van Slageren, M.W.S.J.M. 1994. (1089) Proposal to conserve Aegilops caudata (Gramineae) with a conserved type. Taxon 43(2): 293–296. DOI: 10.2307/1222893 JSTOR Reference page. [not approved, cf. Taxon 45(4): 675, 1996; Aegilops markgrafii is the valid name].

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2019. Aegilops in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2019 Dec 31. Reference page.
Simon, B.K., Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T., Vorontsova, M., Brake, I., Healy, D. & Alfonso, Y. 2013. GrassWorld, Aegilops. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2013 Oct. 27.
Tropicos.org 2013. Aegilops. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2013 Oct. 27.
Farr, E.R. & Zijlstra, G. (eds.) 1996 onwards. Aegilops in Index Nominum Genericorum (Plantarum). Accessed: 2019 Nov. 1.
International Plant Names Index. 2013. Aegilops. Published online. Accessed: 27 Oct. 2013.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Aegilops in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 23 March 2006.
Global Biodiversity Information Facility. 2019. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset. Taxon: Aegilops. .

Vernacular names
Deutsch: Walche
English: Goatgrasses
suomi: Pukinvehnät
հայերեն: Այծակն
日本語: エギロプス属
русский: Коленница

Aegilops is a genus of Eurasian and North American plants in the grass family, Poaceae.[4][5][6] They are known generally as goatgrasses.[7] Some species are known as invasive weeds in parts of North America.[8][9][10]

Description

These are annual plants, sometimes from rhizomes. The taller species reach about 80 centimeters in maximum height. The flat leaves are linear to narrowly lance-shaped, and are up to 15 centimeters long and one wide. The inflorescence is a spike with 2 to 12 solitary spikelets each up to 1.2 centimeters long. Some spikelets have one or three awns, and some have none.[8][11][12][13]
Wheat

Genus Aegilops has played an important role in the taxonomy of wheat. The familiar common wheat (Triticum aestivum) arose when cultivated emmer wheat hybridized with Aegilops tauschii about 8,000 years ago.[14][15] Aegilops and Triticum are genetically similar, as evidenced by their ability to hybridize, and by the presence of Aegilops in the evolutionary heritage of many Triticum taxa.[12] Aegilops is sometimes treated within Triticum. They are maintained as separate genera by most authorities because of their ecological characteristics,[12] and because when united they do not form a monophyletic group.[15][16]
Ecology

Some Aegilops are known as weeds. A. cylindrica, which is commonly known as jointed goatgrass, infests wheat fields, where it outcompetes wheat plants, reducing yields. Its seeds mix with wheat grains at harvest, lowering the quality of the crop. It can also harbor pests such as the Russian wheat aphid (Diuraphis noxia) and pathogenic fungi. Other Aegilops are weeds of rangeland and wildland habitat.[17]
Prehistoric use as a wild food source

During the Mesolithic era, nomadic peoples found goatgrasses (Aegilops) growing wild, along with wild wheats and barleys, and harvested them using bone sickles inset with sharp flakes of flint. The harvested plants were left to dry for a few days, then the edible grains were separated out from the rest of the plant material by beating the plants with a wooden flail, or by rolling them against a hard surface. The seeds were then carefully singed in the embers of a fire to burn away the remaining non-edible plant material. Some grains were accidentally burnt, and since the burnt grains do not biodegrade some have been found by modern archeologists.[18]
Etymology

The genus name Aegilops comes from the Greek aegilos, which could mean "a goat", "goatlike", "a herb liked by goats", or perhaps "a grass similar to that liked by goats".[8] The word "Aegilops" is claimed to be the longest word in the English language to have all of its letters in alphabetical order.[19]
Species
Aegilops tauschii

Accepted species[7][20][8][11][12]

Aegilops bicornis - Egypt, Libya, Cyprus, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Sinai, Jordan, Israel Kuwait
Aegilops biuncialis - Mediterranean Basin, Rumenia, Ukrain, Caucasus[21][22]
Aegilops caudata - Balkans, Middle East
Aegilops columnaris - Middle East
Aegilops comosa - Greece, Turkey
Aegilops crassa – Persian goatgrass - Middle East to Central Asia
Aegilops cylindrica – jointed goatgrass - from Czech Republic to Pakistan
Aegilops geniculata - from Portugal + Canary Islands to Iran
Aegilops × insulae-cypri - Cyprus
Aegilops juvenalis - from Turkey to Kazakhstan
Aegilops kotschyi – ovate goatgrass - from Tunisia to Uzbekistan
Aegilops longissima - Middle East, Egypt
Aegilops lorentii - from Spain + Cape Verde to Iran
Aegilops mutica - Turkey, Transcaucasus
Aegilops neglecta – three-awned goatgrass - from Portugal + Canary Islands to Kazakhstan
Aegilops peregrina - from Morocco to Iran
Aegilops searsii - Syria, Jordan
Aegilops sharonensis - Israel
Aegilops speltoides - from Greece to Iran
Aegilops tauschii - from Crimea to Henan
Aegilops triuncialis – barbed goatgrass - from Portugal + Morocco to Kazakhstan
Aegilops umbellulata - from Crimea to Iran
Aegilops uniaristata - Italy, Balkans, Turkey, Caucasus
Aegilops vavilovii - from Caucasus to Saudi Arabia
Aegilops ventricosa - from Morocco + Balearic Islands to Caucasus

Formerly included species

Species once regarded as members of Aegilops but now considered better suited to other genera: Ctenium, Dactyloctenium, Elymus, Eremochloa, Ophiuros, Parapholis, Rottboellia, and Triticum

Aegilops aromatica - Ctenium aromaticum
Aegilops ciliaris - Eremochloa pectinata
Aegilops crithodium - Triticum monococcum subsp. aegilopoides
Aegilops exaltata - Ophiuros exaltatus
Aegilops fluviatilis - Rottboellia cochinchinensis
Aegilops hordeiformis - Triticum monococcum subsp. monococcum
Aegilops hystrix - Elymus elymoides
Aegilops incurva - Parapholis incurva
Aegilops muricata - Eremochloa muricata
Aegilops saccharina - Dactyloctenium aegyptium

See also

List of Poaceae genera

References

lectotype designated by Hammer, Feddes Repert. 91: 225-228 (1980)
Tropicos, Aegilops L.
"World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew". kew.org.
Linnaeus, Carl von 1753. Species Plantarum 2: 1050-1051 in Latin
"Genere Aegilops - Flora Italiana". altervista.org.
Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 444 山羊草属 shan yang cao shu Aegilops Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1050. 1753.
Aegilops. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
Watson, L. and M. J. Dallwitz. 1992 onwards. Aegilops. Archived October 10, 2008, at the Wayback Machine The Grass Genera of the World. Version: 18 December 2012.
"Aegilops". County-level distribution maps from the North American Plant Atlas (NAPA). Biota of North America Program (BONAP). 2014.
Aegilops classification systems. Archived 2013-10-22 at the Wayback Machine Wheat Genetic and Genomics Resource Center. Kansas State University.
Aegilops. The Jepson eFlora 2013.
Aegilops. Archived October 22, 2013, at the Wayback Machine Triticeae Genus Fact Sheets. Intermountain Herbarium. Utah State University.
Aegilops. GrassBase. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Version 16 November 2012.
Jia, J., et al. (2013). Aegilops tauschii draft genome sequence reveals a gene repertoire for wheat adaptation. Nature 496, 91–95.
Petersen, G., et al. (2006). Phylogenetic relationships of Triticum and Aegilops and evidence for the origin of the A, B, and D genomes of common wheat (Triticum aestivum). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 39(1), 70–82.
Yamane, K. and T. Kawahara. (2005). Intra- and interspecific phylogenetic relationships among diploid Triticum-Aegilops species (Poaceae) based on base-pair substitutions, indels, and microsatellites in chloroplast noncoding sequences. American Journal of Botany 92(11), 1887-98.
Aegilops. Encycloweedia Data Sheets. California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA).
Thomson, Peter (2010). Seeds, sex, and civilization: How the hidden life of plants has shaped our world. Thames and Hudson. 12,13.
"Real Facts | Snapple". Snapple. Retrieved 2018-06-23.
Aegilops. The Plant List.
"RBG Kew: GrassBase - Aegilops biuncialis Description". kew.org.
"Taxonomy - GRIN-Global Web v 1.9.8.2".