Barley Ear (IMAGE)

Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology

Barley Ear

Caption

A photo of an ear from a wild barley plant, with the ripe seeds naturally shattering off due to the brittle rachis or stem structure at their base. In the wild, this brittle rachis allows the plant to spread its seed up to two meters from the parent plant, which is a rather weak dispersal mechanism and not characteristic of the other crop progenitor plants. The barley that we eat today evolved tougher rachises as part of the mutualistic relationship they evolved with humans. Humans have dispersed barley plants all over the world.

Credit

Robert Spengler

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