The production of tetraploid Triticumspecies began in prehistoric times. During many millennia, a series of lucky spontaneous crossings and mutation events took place to produce durum wheat, a domesticated crop species, which could spread to all continents except Antarctica. Durum wheat is currently the second economically most important Triticumspecies, producing 37–40.2 million tonnes worldwide in the period of 2016–2018.

The taxonomic classification of wheat species has undergone significant changes over the past centuries. This brief overview presents the most important steps that led to the current classification systems.

Keywords: Triticum turgidumssp.durum, domestication, archaeobotany, classification systems