What is a wheat berry?

By Chelsie Vandaveer

October 9, 2003

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Like all grasses, wheat (Triticum Linnaeus) produces a fruit called a caryopsis or grain. The caryopses are produced in a terminal cluster of inflorescences, the 'ear' of wheat. The inflorescences or spikelets grow alternately along the sides of the ear.

Like all grasses, wheat produces a fruit called a caryopsis or grain.
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The base of each spikelet has two glumes--bracts or scale-like leaves. Each spikelet produces eight or more florets, but only four or five will form caryopses. The base of each floret (reduced flower) has additional bracts, the lemma and palea. The ovary and hence, the future fruit are enclosed by the lemma and palea. ("Poaceae or Gramineae", Flowering Plant Families, Wendy B. Zomlefer, University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill & London, 1994)

After grain is reaped, it is threshed separating the kernels from the plant. The ear is broken from the straw, the dead and dried stem. The ears are rolled or beaten to separate the chaff--the glumes, lemmata, and paleae--from the grains.

For practical purposes, the caryopsis consists of three parts: the embryo plant, the endosperm, and the bran. The bran surrounds the embryo and endosperm. Part of the bran is the pericarp derived from the ovary of the floret, and part derives from the seed--the seed coat and aleurone, a cell layer high in proteins and lipids. (Biology of Plants, P. Raven, R. Evert, and S. Eichhorn, Worth Publishers, 1992)

The bran is high in cellulose, the dietary 'fiber' that aids the passage of food
through the intestinal tract. The endosperm is starchy and is ground into flour.
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When wheat is milled, the grains are broken against rollers. The bran layer breaks at the aleurone, the endosperm cracks, and the embryo is freed. Sieves separate the three for further processing.

The bran is high in cellulose, the dietary 'fiber' that aids the passage of food through the intestinal tract. The endosperm is starchy and is ground into flour. The embryo plant or wheat germ is high in unsaturated oil. The presence of the maternal tissues, the remnants of the ovary, makes the grain a fruit. In older vernacular, the caryopsis was called a wheat berry.

E. Botham and Sons, Ltd., a large bakery firm in the U.K., has wonderful detailed diagrams of a wheat caryopsis. To view the diagrams, click on the link:

http://www.botham.co.uk/bread/grain.htm

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