Several taxa have previously been recognized within Secale, but most of them are difficult or even impossible to distinguish morphologically. We recognize only three species: S. sylvestre, S. strictum, and S. cereale. Secale strictum has priority over S. montanum and has two subspecies, ssp. strictum and ssp. africanum, and two varieties within ssp. strictum, van strictum and var. ciliatoglume comb. nov. Secale cereale is also treated as having two subspecies. The cultivated taxa, marked by their tough rachises, are placed in ssp. cereale and the wild or weedy taxa that have more or less fragile rachis, in ssp. ancestrale. A complete synonymy is given for S. cereale, but typification has been omitted because, in many instances, type material does not exist or has been impossible to trace.