Dasypyrum villosum

Dasypyrum villosum is a species of annual grass in the family Poaceae. It is native to eastern and southern Europe and Western Asia from the Balearic Islands to Turkmenistan, including in the Mediterranean and the Caucasus regions.^[1]

Dasypyrum villosum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Poaceae
Subfamily:	Pooideae
Genus:	Dasypyrum
Species:	D. villosum
Binomial name
Dasypyrum villosum (L.) Borbás
Synonyms[1]
Secale villosum L. Triticum villosum (L.) M.Bieb. 1819 not Host 1809 nor (L.) F. Herm. 1936 Agropyron villosum (L.) Link Haynaldia villosa (L.) Schur Pseudosecale villosum (L.) Degen Hordeum ciliatum Lam. Triticum caudatum Pers. Agropyron caudatum (Pers.) P.Beauv.

Description

Culms are decumbent, with heights ranging from 25 to 70 cm. Racemes are single, oblong, bilateral, and 4–10 cm long; spikelets are oblong, laterally compressed, and 7–20 mm long.

Stem rust resistance

D. villosum has almost total immunity against Puccinia graminis f. sp. tritici^[2][3] and carries Sr52 which offers some resistance against the Ug99 subrace of P.g.f.sp.t..^[2][3] The genetic basis for this immunity is being introgressed into its close relative, wheat,^[2][3] which is suffering from new races of this disease.