| Triticum ispahanicum: a new species of cultivated
wheat from Iran H. HESLOT Laboratoire de Genetique, Institut National Agronomique 16 Rue Clande Bernard, Paris 5e, France Among several samples of wheat brought back from Iran in 1957 by Prof. Viennot-Bourgin, one appeared to me as representing probably a new species. Chromosome counts in root tips gave 2n=28. Later, Dr. Atai, Professor of the Agricultural University of Karadj, Iran, kindly sent me, on request, seeds of a related form. The type sent by Dr. Atai is in fact closely related morphologically to the first type, and the two forms are to be considered as two varieties belonging to the same species. Both have 2n=28 chromosomes. In 1958, the two forms have been cultivated in Paris. Simultaneously I sent seeds of the first type to Prof. Zhukovsky, Director of the Leningrad Institute of Plant Industry, and to his collalorator, Dr. Jakubziner. This wheat was then cultivated in the experiment station of Taschkent (Central Asia). Following a close study, Prof, Zhukovsky and Dr. Jakubziner reached a conclusion strictly identical to mine: we were dealing with a new species. Meanwhile Dr. Atai sent me the following precisions on his sample: "This wheat is cultivated on a limited surface in a few villages of the Vazrak Canton (Faridan district, Ispahan Province), at an altitude of 2,000-2,500 meters." To the new species, I have given the name Triticum ispahanicum sp. nov. The Latin diagnosis has been published recently*. In cooperation with Dr. M. Simonet, T. ispahanicum has been crossed with T. durum aud T. Timopheevi and the F1 hybrids are being analyzed cytologically. It appears that T. ispahamicum has the genomic constitution AABB. The full results will be published later on. Seeds of the new species may be made available upon request. (Editor's note: This species seems to be the one reported by H. Kihara and others in WIS No. 4, p. 3, 1956.) |
| * C. R. Acad. Sciences, 247 (1958), 2477-2479. |