Cereals

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Cereals, various species of the grass family, cultivated for their seed, which is used as food. The name is derived from Ceres, the Roman goddess of grains and agriculture. Although the cereals proper do not belong to any particular tribe of the grasses, the use of particular species as bread plants seems to have been determined chiefly by the superior size of the seed or by the ease of procuring it in sufficient quantity and of freeing it from its inedible covering. The most extensively cultivated grains are wheat, barley, rye, oats, rice, corn or maize, different kinds of millet, and the grain sorghums known as durra or guinea corn. These have all been cultivated since ancient times. Maize and wild rice are the only grains that originated in the Americas; the others were developed in Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Scientific classification: Cereals belong to the family Poaceae (formerly Gramineae). Wheat is classified in the genus Triticum, barley in the genus Hordeum, rye in the genus Secale, oats in the genus Avena, rice in the genus Oryza, and corn in the genus Zea. Millet is classified in the genera Setatia, Eleusine, Panicum, and Pennisetum. Durra or Guinea corn is classified in the genera Sorghum or Andropogon.

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