Emmer wheat 

or hulled wheat[2] is a type of awned wheat. Emmer is a tetraploid (4n = 4x = 28

chromosomes).[4] The domesticated types are Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccum and T.
t. conv. durum. The wild plant is called T. t. subsp. dicoccoides. The principal difference between the
wild and the domestic forms is that the ripened seed head of the wild plant shatters and scatters the
seed onto the ground, while in the domesticated emmer, the seed head remains intact, thus making it
easier for humans to harvest the grain.[5]
Along with einkorn wheat, emmer was one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East. It was
widely cultivated in the ancient world, but is now a relict crop in mountainous regions of Europe and
Asia.
Emmer is considered a type of farro food, especially in Italy.[2]

Taxonomy[edit]
Strong similarities in morphology and genetics show that wild emmer (T. dicoccoides Koern.) is the
wild ancestor and a crop wild relative of domesticated emmer. Because wild and domesticated
emmer are interfertile with other tetraploid wheats, some taxonomists consider all tetraploid wheats
to belong to one species, T. turgidum. Under this scheme, the two forms are recognized
at subspecies level, thus T. t. subsp. dicoccoides and T. t. subsp. dicoccum. Either naming system is
equally valid; the latter lays more emphasis on genetic similarities.[citation needed]
For a wider discussion, see Wheat §  Genetics and breeding and Wheat taxonomy

Wild emmer[edit]
Wild emmer grows wild in the Near East. It is a tetraploid wheat formed by the hybridization of
two diploid wild grasses, Triticum urartu, closely related to wild einkorn (T. boeoticum), and an as yet
unidentified Aegilops species related to A. searsii or A. speltoides.[citation needed]
Botanists Körnicke and Aaronsohn in the late 19th-century were the first to describe the wild emmer
(Triticum dicoccoides) native to Palestine and adjacent countries.[6][7][8] Earlier, in 1864, the Austrian
botanist Kotschy had collected specimens of the same wild emmer, without signifying where he had
collected them.[9]
Although cultivated in ancient Egypt, its cultivation for human consumption in Israel in recent history
is not known,[7] perhaps owing to the difficulty with which the chaff is separated from the seed kernels,
formerly requiring the spikes to be pounded with mortar and pestle.[10]
The wild emmer is distinguished from T. vulgare, with its tougher ear rhachis and the beards
releasing the grains easily, by their ear rhachis that are brittle when ripe and their firmly fitting beards.
[7]
 The wild emmer grows to a height of 50–70 cm (20–28 in), and bears an elongated spike
measuring 10–15 cm (3.9–5.9 in), with long, protruding awns extending upwards.[9]
Morphology[edit]

Cultivated type
Like einkorn and spelt wheats, emmer is a hulled wheat, meaning it has strong glumes (husks) that
enclose the grains, and a semibrittle rachis. On threshing, a hulled wheat spike breaks up into
spikelets. These require milling or pounding to release the grains from the glumes.[citation needed]
Wild emmer wheat spikelets effectively self-cultivate by propelling themselves mechanically into soils
with their awns. During a period of increased humidity during the night, the awns of the spikelet
become erect and draw together, and in the process push the grain into the soil. During the daytime,
the humidity drops and the awns slacken back again; however, fine silica hairs on the awns act as
hooks in the soil and prevent the spikelets from backing out. During the course of alternating stages
of daytime drying and nighttime humidity, the awns' pumping movements, which resemble a
swimming frog kick, will drill the spikelet 25 millimetres (1 inch) or more into the soil.[11]