What is the scientific name of the common wheat species used in most bread production?

Triticum aestivum is the scientific name of common wheat, the species used in most bread production.

Common wheat is a domesticated grass cultivated worldwide for flour, food, and animal feed. It is hexaploid, meaning its cells contain six sets of chromosomes, a genomic condition that arose through hybridization among ancestral wheat relatives.

Its flour is especially useful for bread because gluten-forming proteins create an elastic dough capable of trapping carbon dioxide from yeast fermentation. The same species is also used for cakes, biscuits, pasta blends, and many other foods.

Triticum durum is a different wheat species, best known for durum flour and semolina used in much dried pasta. Barley and rye are also cereal grains, but they belong to different genera. Wheat grains are caryopses, the characteristic one-seeded fruits of grasses.