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Secale cereale

Common name:	Rye	Family:	Gramineae
Author:	L.	Botanical references:
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	W. Asia? Original habitat is obscure.
Habitat:	Not known in a truly wild situation.
Edibility Rating (1-5):	3	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	S. montanum[B] Triticum cereale[B,P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Centeno [E], Cultivated Rye [P,B], Rogge [D], Rye [L,E], Swale [E],
Epithets:	From a Dictionary of Botanical Epithets
	cerea = waxen
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Cyperales. Renamed to Poaceae -- Grass family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Belgium Spain Us
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: Washington.

Physical Characteristics

Annual growing to 1.8m by 0.1m . It is hardy to zone 3 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from May to July, and the seeds ripen from August to September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Wind. We rate it 3/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil and can tolerate drought. The plant can tolerates strong winds but not maritime exposure.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Coffee Seed Sweetener.

Seed - cooked[2, 13, 34, 46]. A common cereal, it is used especially in N. Europe to make bread[183]. The seed contains about 13% protein[61]. The grain also contains some gluten, though not as much as wheat, so it makes a heavier bread than wheat. It can also be used to make cakes etc. The seed can be sprouted and added to salads[183]. A nutritional analysis is available[218].
Malt, a sweet substance produced by germinating the seed, is extracted from the roasted germinated seed and used as a sweetening agent and in making beer etc[13].
The roasted (ungerminated) seed is used as a coffee substitute[46, 183].

Composition

Seed (Dry weight): In grammes per 100g weight of food:
Water: 0 Calories: 380 Protein: 13.2 Fat: 2.5 Carbohydrate: 82.5 Fibre: 2.2 Ash: 2
In milligrammes per 100g weight of food:
Calcium: 44 Phosphorus: 400 Iron: 4 Sodium: 4 Potassium: 524 VitaminA: 0 Thiamine: 0.4 Riboflavin: 0.24 Niacin: 1.8 VitaminC: 0
Source: [218]
Notes : The figures given here are the median of a range given in the report.

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Cancer Laxative Poultice.

The seed is made into a poultice and applied to tumours[218].
The seed is also an effective laxative due to its fibrous seed coat[269].

Other Uses

Biomass Green manure Oil Soil stabilization Thatching.

The straw is used as a fuel or as a biomass in industry[141]. It is quite strong[100] and can also be used in thatching, for paper making, weaving mats and hats etc[13, 34, 46, 61, 171]. Other uses for the straw include as a packing material for nursery stock, bricks and tiles, for bedding, archery targets, and mushroom compost[269].
The plant is a good green manure crop. It is fast growing with an extensive and deep root system[46]. It is especially useful if sown in late autumn. Its growth over the winter will prevent soil erosion and the leaching of nutrients from the soil, it can then be incorporated into the soil in the spring[171]. The extensive root system also makes this a good plant to use for soil stabilization, especially on sandy soils[171].

Cultivation details

An easily grown plant, it succeeds in most soils but prefers a well-drained light soil in a sunny position[1, 132]. It thrives on infertile, submarginal areas and is renouned for its ability to grow on sandy soils[269]. Established plants are drought tolerant[1]. The plant is reported to tolerate an annual precipitation in the range of of 22 to 176cm, an annual temperature in the range of of 4.3 to 21.3° C and a pH of 4.5 to 8.2[269].
Rye is a widely cultivated temperate zone cereal crop. It is able to withstand severe climatic conditions and can be grown much further north and at higher altitudes than wheat[13, 34, 57]. Average yields vary widely from country to country, the world average is around 1.6 tonnes per hectare with yields of almost 7 tonnes per hectare achieved in Norway[269]. There are many named varieties[183].
Rye is a rather variable species and botanists have divided it into a number of sub-species, all of which could be of value in breeding programmes. These sub-species are briefly listed below:-
S. cereale afghanicum (Vavilov.)K.Hammer. Native to the Caucasus, western Asia and India.
S. cereale ancestrale Zhuk. Native to western Asia.
S. cereale dighoricum Vavilov. Native to the Caucasus and eastern europe.
S. cereale segetale Zhuk. Native to temperate Asia.
Rye grows well with cornflowers and pansies[18, 20], though it inhibits the growth of poppies and couch grass[18, 20].

Propagation

Seed - sow March or October in situ and only just cover the seed. Germination should take place within 2 weeks.

Cultivars

'': There are many named varieties of this annual cereal, with new forms being developed each year. At present there is not time to enter these in the database.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

PFAF Web Pages

This plant is mentioned in the following web pages

PFAF Plant Catalogue (S)

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[V] Images from the Vascular Plant Image Gallery of the Texas A& M Bioinformatics Working Group.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[PHARM] Phytochemical Data (common names, uses, countries) from Dr Duke's Phytochemical Database.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HEC] Use, Folk Medicine, etc. from Handbook of Energy Crops by James Duke
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[2] Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972 ISBN 0-486-20459-6
Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.

[13] Triska. Dr. Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Plants. Hamlyn 1975 ISBN 0-600-33545-3
Very interesting reading, giving some details of plant uses and quite a lot of folk-lore.

[18] Philbrick H. and Gregg R. B. Companion Plants. Watkins 1979
Details of beneficial and antagonistic relationships between neighbouring plants.

[20] Riotte. L. Companion Planting for Successful Gardening. Garden Way, Vermont, USA. 1978 ISBN 0-88266-064-0
Fairly good.

[34] Harrison. S. Wallis. M. Masefield. G. The Oxford Book of Food Plants. Oxford University Press 1975
Good drawings of some of the more common food plants from around the world. Not much information though.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[57] Schery. R. W. Plants for Man.
Fairly readable but not very comprehensive. Deals with plants from around the world.

[61] Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974 ISBN 0094579202
Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.

[100] Polunin. O. Flowers of Europe - A Field Guide. Oxford University Press 1969 ISBN 0192176218
An excellent and well illustrated pocket guide for those with very large pockets. Also gives some details on plant uses.

[132] Bianchini. F., Corbetta. F. and Pistoia. M. Fruits of the Earth.
Lovely pictures, a very readable book.

[141] Carruthers. S. P. (Editor) Alternative Enterprises for Agriculture in the UK. Centre for Agricultural Strategy, Univ. of Reading 1986 ISBN 0704909820
Some suggested alternative commercial crops for Britain. Readable. Produced by a University study group.

[171] Hill. A. F. Economic Botany. The Maple Press 1952
Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some a bit of detail about the plants it does cover.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[218] Duke. J. A. and Ayensu. E. S. Medicinal Plants of China Reference Publications, Inc. 1985 ISBN 0-917256-20-4
Details of over 1,200 medicinal plants of China and brief details of their uses. Often includes an analysis, or at least a list of constituents. Heavy going if you are not into the subject.

[269] Duke. J. Handbook of Energy Crops - 1983
Published only on the Internet, excellent information on a wide range of plants.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
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