19 



makes a valuable additiou to the grazing resources of the country. It is deserv- 

 ing of a trial under cultivation. 



No. 39. Avena fatua Linn. Wild-oats. (Fig. 15.) 



An erect annual, 2 to 3 feet high, with loose, ojien piiniclcs, 8 to 10 inches long, the 

 whole aspect of the plant closely resembling forms of the cultivated oat. The 

 spikelets are larger, however, and the flowering glumes are covered with long, 

 brown hairs, and have a twisted awn an inch in length. It is a native of the 

 Mediterranean region, but is now widely distributed over grain-growing coun- 

 tries, and with the closely related J. harhata Brot. is especially common in Cal- 

 ifornia and Oregon, and has spread eastward to Minnesota. It is of rare 

 occurrence in the Eastern States. By some this is 8ui)posed to be the original 

 of the cultivated oat (Avena satira), 

 which is said to readily degenerate into 

 it. Avena fatua is in most places regarded 

 as a troublesome weed. When abundant 

 in the grain fields, it occupies the place 

 of better plants, and reduces the gr.ule 

 of the thrashed grain by the admixture 

 of its inferior and lighter seeds. The stiff 

 and twisted awns are injurious to stock, 

 as they freijuently cause irritation of the 

 nostrils and mouths of the cattle feeding 

 upon them. In California the young 

 plants, before the bearded or awned spike- 

 lets mature, are esteemed for grazing and 

 forage. "The use of the Wild-oat, with its 

 brown, hairy seed and twisted awn, as an 

 artificial fly by fishermen, is well known, 

 the uncoiling of the awn when, wetted 

 causing those contortions by which it 

 imitates a fly in trouble." (Hooker.) A 

 form of the Wild-oat with the flowering 

 glume smooth (var. (iJahrescena Coss.) is 

 quite widely distributed on the Pacific 

 Slope, where it has become a most trouble- 

 some weed in wheat fields. 



Fig. 15.— Wild Oats {Avena fatua) . 



No. 40. Avena pubescens Linn. Downy 

 Oat- grass. 



This grass is similar in habit and appearance 

 to Arena fatua, l)ut is much less com- 

 mon. It is a European grass, and. has thence been Introduced into this country. 

 It is occasionally found in the grain region of the Pacific Slope. The soils best 

 suited to the growth of this grass are sandy loams, upon which it is valuable 

 for early mowing and pasturage Under favorable conditions it has produced 

 15,654 pounds of green fodder, or 5,870 pounds of hay, and 6,860 poundj of after- 

 math per acre. 



No. 41. Avena sativa Linn. Oats. 



A well-known erect annual, 2 to 4 feet high, with flat leaves and expanded panicles 

 of rather large pendulous spikelets. There are many varieties, which have been 

 divided into two classes, "panicle oats" with widely spreading panicle branches; 

 and "banner oats" with the panicles somewhat contracted and one-sided. 

 These two races are divided into "chaffy'' and "naked-fruited" sorts; further 

 varieties are established upcwi the color, form, or some special character of the 

 grain. Oats have been cultivated from very early times in Europe, and they 



