Common wheat "Triticum compactum", but in India "T. sphaerococcum") are closely related to common wheat, but have a much more compact ear. Their shorter rachis segments lead to spikelets packed closer together. Compact wheats are often regarded as subspecies rather than species in their own right (thus "T. aestivum" subsp. "compactum"). Common wheat Common wheat ("Triticum aestivum"), also known as bread wheat, is a cultivated wheat species. About 95% of the wheat produced is common wheat, which is the most widely grown of all crops and the cereal with the highest monetary yield. Numerous forms of wheat have evolved under human selection.
Crop circle Crop circle A crop circle or crop formation is a pattern created by flattening a crop, usually a cereal. The term was first coined in the early 1980s by Colin Andrews. Crop circles have been described as all falling "within the range of the sort of thing done in hoaxes" by Taner Edis, professor of physics at Truman State University. Although obscure natural causes or alien origins of crop circles are suggested by fringe theorists, there is no scientific evidence for such explanations, and all crop circles are consistent with human causation. A person who studies crop circles is known