Characteristics
Monocots
Secale cereale L.
CULTIVATED RYE
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This cereal is sometimes infected with the ascomycete Claviceps purpurea, producing blackish sclerotia whose consumption has led to ergotism. Research on this fungus led to the use of ergotamine for hemorrhage and migraines and the synthesis of LSD.
Not Native
Citation
SECALE CEREALE Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 84. 1753.
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Without data (lectotype: LINN 102.1). Lectotypified by Bowden, Canad. J. Bot. 40: 1704. 1962.