BERE BARLEY - A LIVING LINK WITH 8TH-CENTURY

Bere barley, grown in northern Scotland and the Orkney Isles, is mille d for flour. Grains from the 1995 harvest were compared by visual exam ination and by acid-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with gene bank accessions and historical specimens found at the NIAB. Visual and elec trophoretic similarities were found. The geographical isolation of Ber e barley from other barley varieties has probably helped maintain it a s a discrete ''variety''. Bere barley is probably directly related to ''beare-barley'' grown in the 16th century. The author speculates that Bere barley can trace its direct ancestry back to the 8th century mak ing it one of the oldest varieties in the world that is still grown.