Barley: The Versatile Crop :: Botany

Barley The Versatile CropBarley is a very important texture in the world today. It is very versatile in every way. It has been well adapted through its evolution. It has a very mysterious and much debated beginning. Now however, scarcely has become well known and so have its many uses. Barley, which is of the genus genus Hordeum, is a cereal that belongs to the grass family Poaceae. Barley has many different varieties. The most common is Hordeum vulgare, which is a six-rowed type of barley that has a spike notched on opposite sides with three spikelets on each notch. At each notch on that point is a flower or floret that subsequently develops into a kernel. Hordeum distichum is a two-rowed type of barley that has central florets producing kernels and it has lateral florets that are sterile. Lastly there is Hordeum irregulare which has fertile central florets and different arrangements of sterile and fertile lateral florets. This is the least cultivated species of the three main forms (2). Barley is very adaptable to sundry(a) environments. In fact, it is the most adaptable of the cereals. Barley is an annual grass that has two take oning seasons, winter and spring. It does best in the spring in a restrained zone with a 90 day growing season, it can also be found growing in sub-arctic regions, like in Alaska or in Norway, with very short growing seasons (1). Barley also has a very good resistance to dry heat compared to other small grains. This feature allows it to grow near desert areas such as North Africa (2). Barley has a very debatable origin. There are two different patterns as to where barley was originally cultivated. J.R Hardin says that barley cultivation originated in Egypt. There is evidence of barley grains found in pits and pyramids of Egypt over 5000 years ago. There has also been ancient glyphs or pictorials showing barley dating back to 3000 BC. There have also been references to barley and beer making in ancient Egyptian and Sumerian writings. (4). The other thought is that barley was originally cultivated in China around 1500-2000 BC. This is evident by ancient pottery found depicting the end of the famine by having barley fall out of the sky (2). Barley cultivation also seems to have been evident in other parts of the world at later times. For example northwestern Europe is estimated to have civilizations cultivating barley around 3000 BC.

Francios Rabelias Essay -- essays research papers

In Italy, early 1300s, a cultural movement began. This period of time is known as the Renaissance, an age of reborn chase in the arts. During this time artist emerged with tonalityings that recognized daily life, in contrast with paintings of holy and importain people just a few years earlier. Artist began to paint in three dimensions, writers began write satires, and they started blending their opinions into their stories. They became concerned with human welfare, humanism.&8220 Humanism was a program of study rather than a unified philosophy. It stressed the studia humanitatis, or humanities, which included grammar, rhetoric (the art of persuasive argument), poetry, history, and moral philosophy. It was designed to make the Christian well-rounded and virtuous. People like Michangelo, Leonardo da Vinchi, Lorenzo de Medici, Raphael,and St. Thomas more than were humanists. They were concerned with human welfare, this is the reason why it is represented in there works. The one I am going to focus on is Francios Rabelias.Rabelias was a writer. all over time many of the information we work about him as been lost or destroyed. &8220We have most of his works, but it is believed there is more. Below I have listed a believed chronology of Rabelias, it may have inaccurate due the lack of information on Rabelias.&82201494 Now the Generally accepted date of Rabelias&8217s birth, although at multiplication it has been published back as far as 1483. Born at La Devini...