rye

rye, in botany

rye, cereal grain of the family Gramineae (grass family). The grain, Secale cereale, is important chiefly in Central and N Europe. It seems to have been domesticated later than wheat and other staple grains; cultivated rye is quite similar to the wild forms and no traces of it have been found among Egyptian ruins or Swiss lake dwellings. Where it grows well, wheat is preferred, but rye will produce a good crop on soil too poor or in a climate too cool to produce a good crop of wheat. The standard schwarzbrot, or pumpernickel, of Europe was formerly the major rye product. A bread of lighter color, called rye bread, is made of rye flour mixed with wheat flour. Today rye is used mostly as a stock feed (usually mixed with other grains), for hay and pasturage, for green manure, and as a cover crop. Russia leads in world production. Rye is much used as a distillers' grain in making whisky and gin. The tough straw of rye is valued for many purposes, e.g., thatching for roofs and stuffing for horse collars. Ergot is a fungus disease of rye; the fungus is poisonous and may make the rye unsafe to use. Wild rye and lyme grass are names for several grasses of the genus Elymus, some of which are occasionally planted as ornamentals or used for binding sand. Rye is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliatae, order Cyperales, family Gramineae.

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Rye, town, England

Rye, town (1991 pop. 4,127), East Sussex, SE England, on the Rother River. It is a tourist resort and small port with boatbuilding and netmaking industries. Rye was one of the "ancient towns" added to the Cinque Ports. It had a thriving trade in the 17th cent. but decayed after the recession of the sea early in the 19th cent. There are remains of an ancient friary, a large Norman and Early English church, the 12th-century Ypres Tower, and the Thomas Peacocke school (1636). The dramatist John Fletcher was born in Rye.

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Rye, city, United States

Rye, city (1990 pop. 14,936), Westchester co., SE N.Y., a suburb of New York City, on Long Island Sound; settled 1660, inc. as a city 1942. It is chiefly residential, with a cancer-research center, a hardware and locks manufacturing company, and several corporate offices. In colonial times, Rye was the first stop on the Boston Post Road after New York City. The old Square House, an inn where many Revolutionary notables stayed, is now a museum. Playland, a large county-owned amusement park, is on the beach there. Chief Justice John Jay is buried in Rye.

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rye

Cereal grass (Secale cereale) and its edible grain, used to make rye bread and rye whiskey, as livestock feed, and as a pasture plant. Native to South Asia, today it is grown extensively in Europe, Asia, and North America. It is planted mainly where climate and soil are relatively unfavourable for other cereals and as a winter crop where temperatures are too cold for winter wheat. Rye thrives at high altitudes and is the most winter-hardy of all small grains. It is high in carbohydrates and provides small quantities of protein, potassium, and B vitamins. Only rye and wheat have the necessary qualities to make a loaf of bread, but rye lacks the elasticity of wheat and thus is frequently blended with wheat flour. The tough fibrous straw of rye is used for animal bedding, thatching, mattresses, hats, and paper. Rye may be grown as a green manure crop.

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rye

1. a tall hardy widely cultivated annual grass, Secale cereale, having soft bluish-green leaves, bristly flower spikes, and light brown grain

2. the grain of this grass, used in making flour and whiskey, and as a livestock food

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Rye

a resort in SE England, in East Sussex: one of the Cinque Ports. Pop.: 4195 (2001)

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rye [rī]

(botany)

Secale cereale.A cereal plant of the order Cyperales cultivated for its grain, which contains the most desirable gluten, next to wheat.