Ergot "C. lutea" (on paspalum). "C. purpurea" most commonly affects outcrossing species such as rye (its most common host), as well as triticale, wheat, and barley. It affects oats only rarely. "C. purpurea" has at least three races or varieties, which differ in their host specificity: An ergot kernel, called a "sclerotium", develops when a spore of fungal species of the genus "Claviceps" infects a floret of flowering grass or cereal. The infection process mimics a pollen grain growing into an ovary during fertilization. Infection requires that the fungal spore have access to the stigma; consequently, plants infected by "Claviceps" are
The Grain of Wheat than the original. The image of the grain of wheat dying in the earth in order to grow and bear a harvest can be seen also as a metaphor of Jesus' own death and burial in the tomb and his resurrection. The Rev. William D. Oldland in his sermon "Unless a Grain of Wheat Falls into the Earth and Dies" said: The Apostle Paul also says: "What is sown in the earth is subject to decay, what rises is incorruptible" (1 Cor. 15:42). The Grain of Wheat Parable of the Grain of Wheat (Greek: ὁ κόκκος τοῦ σῑ́του; "ho kókkos