AbstractHordeum chilense, a South‐American wild barley, is being used in cereal breeding because of its good crossability with both wild and cultivatedTriticeaespecies. Amphiploids and chromosome addition lines ofH. chilensein common anddurumwheats have been obtained as a means to transfer desirable agronomic characters from wild barley to wheat. No allosyndetic pairing has been detected in diverse hybrids involvingH. chilense. Several biochemical markers have been associated with the sevenchilensechromosome pairs. New approaches are necessary to transfer genes fromH. chilenseto cereal