Characterization is a consistent effort in the USDA Plant Germplasm System (PGS). In 2004, 1,412 accessions released from the National Quarantine Program were grown out for establishment of seed stock in the collection. They were introduced from 40 countries and Colombia had the most, 409 accessions which are more than the existing lines in the PGS. Nigeria donated 235, about four times of the existing number of accessions. Cuba also donated more accessions (19) than what had been (16) in the PGS. Cultivar ‘Altamira 7’ filled in the blank for Nicarragua. Eleven were from North Korea with only one line before this collection. Burundi had one before and added one this time. Fifteen descriptors including days to flower, plant height, plant type, panicle type, awn type and lodging for agronomy; hull an bran colors, kernel length, width and length/width ratio and grain weight for grain morphology; and protein content, apparent amylose content and alkali spreading value for cooking quality were characterized for these accessions. Data of the descriptors are displayed in the PGS wed-site at www.ars-grin.gov. Seeds of the 1,412 accessions are curated by the National Small Grains Collection for public needs on research purposes and also stored in the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation for security.