''Triticum araraticum'' (Araratian wild emmer or Armenian wild emmer) is a wild tetraploid species of wheat. ''T. araraticum'' is one of the least studied wheat species in the world.
[E. D. Badaeva, R. L. Boguslavsky, N. S. Badaev and A. V. Zelenin. 1988. ''Intraspecific chromosomal polymorphism of Triticum araraticum (Poaceae) detected by C-banding technique''. Plant Systematics and Evolution. Vol. 169, No. 1/2]
Genealogy
The ''T. araraticum'' species appears to have arisen from the natural hybridization of
T. boeoticum and
Aegilops speltoides
''Aegilops speltoides'' ( syn. ''Sitopsis speltoides'' ( Tausch) Á.Löve) is an edible goatgrass in the family Poaceae native to Southeastern Europe and Western Asia, which is often used for animal feed, and it has grown in cultivated beds. T ...
. ''T. araraticum'' is similar to the domestic
T. timopheevii in several ways including physical appearance, cytoplasm type and DNA content.
[Jakubizner M. M. 1932. Wheats of Syria, Palestina, and Tranjordan, and their role in breeding and agronomy. WIR publ. p. 157-160 (in Russian)] The relationship has led some taxonomists to classify ''T. araraticum'' as a subspecies of ''T. timopheevii''. In July 1988 different lines of ''T. araraticum'' were studied using the
C-banding method revealing that ''T. araraticum'' was of genome composition AAGG.
Geography
The araraticum subspecies of ''T. araraticum'' grows primarily in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq and Turkey,
while the ''kurdistanicum'' subspecies grows in Iraq and the nearby areas of Iran and Turkey.
In Armenia, the subspecies can be found in
Voghjaberd and
Vedi villages near capital
Yerevan
Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...
and the villages of
Areni
Areni () is a village and the center of the Areni Municipality of the Vayots Dzor Province in Armenia. Areni is best known for its wine production, with the majority of wine produced locally from the nearby village of Getap, Vayots Dzor, Getap.
...
,
Arpi
Arpi (), Argyrippa (), and Argos Hippium () was an ancient city of Apulia, Italy, 16 miles (26 km) west of the sea coast, and 2 miles (3.5 km) north of modern Foggia (next to the modern Arpi Nova). The first name was Argos Hippium then ...
and
Aghavnadzor in
Vayots Dzor Province
Vayots Dzor (, ) is a province (''marz'') of Armenia. It lies at the southeastern end of the country, bordering the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan to the west and the Kalbajar District of Azerbaijan to the east. It covers an area of . With a ...
.
References
Wheat
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