Abstract: The tribe Triticeae Dumort. in the grass family (Poaceae) contains three of the world most important cere-al crops, namely, wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ), barley (Hordeum vulgare L. ), and rye (Secale cereale L. ), as well as many economically valuable forage grasses. Because the tribe Triticeae comprises a greatnumber of species, covers a remarkably wide disribution area in the world, and inhabits various ecologicalenvironments, tremendous morphological and genetic variations are found between and within species inthis tribe. As a vast reservoir of genetic resources, species in the Triticeae have a great potential for the im-provement of wheat, barley, and rye varieties in the plant breeding programmes through transferring use-ful genes from wild to cultivated species. However, the present knowledge and investigation of biodiversityin the Triticeae is considerably insufficient, which largely affects the appropriate utilization of the geneticresources in the tribe. Nowadays, the change of the global environments makes some species of Triticeae inan endangered state. Therefore , it is very important and urgent to strengthen the further investigation ofthe genetic diversity in the Triticeae and to have effective strategy to the conservation of this vast geneticreservoir.