It comes from Southeast Asia and North Africa and belongs to the Poaceae family.
It has narrow green leaves, a fasciculate and shallow root system compared to other cereals, an erect and thick stalk with 6-8 internodes, flowers with three stamens and a pistil of two stigmas and the fruit is in cariópside with glumillas (except in barley).
It is the fourth most important cereal due to its ecological adaptation and applications and the most producing countries are Germany, Canada and France.
