Of the six sets of chromosomes, four come from emmer (Triticum turgidum, itself a tetraploid) and two from Aegilops tauschii (a wild diploid goatgrass).

[citation needed] Naked wheats (including Triticum aestivum, T. durum, and T. turgidum) were found in Roman burial sites ranging from 100 BCE to 300 CE.

[citation needed] Worldwide, bread wheat has proved well adapted to modern industrial baking, and has displaced many of the other wheat, barley, and rye species that were once commonly used for bread making, particularly in Europe.

[citation needed] Modern wheat varieties have been selected for short stems, the result of RHt dwarfing genes[14] that reduce the plant's sensitivity to gibberellic acid, a plant hormone that lengthens cells.

Compact wheats are often regarded as subspecies rather than species in their own right (thus T. aestivum subsp.