Collection of Hordeum spontaneum C. Koch emend. Bacht. from Southwest Asia studied in the neighborhood of Moscow.

Wild barley Hordeum spontaneum C. emend. is of interest from several aspects (Bakhteev, 1974). It is not only a very near relative of cultivated barley H. sativum Jessen, but also a potentially very promising donor for use in hybridization. With these facts in mind and, in particular, recalling N. I. Vavilov's remarks [on the occasion of publication of R. E. Regel's article "on the origin of cultivated barleys" (1917)], appropriate investigations were started. In the present case 77 specimens of H. spontaneum, collected by S. Sakamoto (Japan) in the countries of South West Asia, were studied with reference to several morphological and biological features including winter hardiness.