294 Journal of Agricultural Research voi.x. no.6 



The hull-less seed was received under the name " A vena chinensis — China 

 oat." However, the study of the plants grown from that seed in the 

 breeding garden of this Station has led to the observation of some de- 

 tails which renders the correctness of the name under which the seed 

 was received from Russia very doubtful. From the following descrip- 

 tion of the plant the conclusion seems justified that the variety in ques- 

 tion is not Avena saliva nuda var. chinensis, but Avena saliva nuda var. 

 inermis Kcke. 



When grown in garden rows and under conditions prevailing in Maine, 

 the plants attain an average height of about 130 cm. The stooling is 

 medium, the average number of culms per plant being five. Plate 39, A, 

 shows the general characters of the panicle. The head is about 30 cm. 

 long. The ascending branches form a rather sharp angle with the main 

 axis of the panicle, and give the head an oblong appearance. 



The most interesting feature of this oat is the structure of its spike- 

 lets. While the number of kernels per spikelet in the common oat 

 ranges from two to three, the spikelets of the naked oat are multiflorous, 

 the number of flowers or kernels ranging from three to five. This 

 feature appears in the most pronounced form at the tips of the whorls. 

 Here, as a rule, the spikelets contain five flowers or kernels, while with 

 those spikelets in the lower part of the whorl and also in the lower 

 part of the panicle, as a whole, the number of flowers per spikelet is 

 reduced so that in certain panicles the lowest whorls bear spikelets with 

 only two to three flowers. Plate 40, A, shows a typical spikelet of a 

 naked oat. 



The long pedicels (rachis) of the individual flowers give the spikelet 

 a raceme-like appearance. The length of the pedicels bearing the indi- 

 vidual flowers varies considerably within the same spikelet, increasing 

 from the uppermost flower towards the lowest one at the base of the 

 spikelet. The relative length of the successive pedicels in a penta- 

 florous spikelet, from the uppermost down to the lowest, averages about 

 3.8, 6.0, 8.7, and 12.2 mm., respectively. The average length of the 

 pedicels bearing the upper flower in an ordinary hulled oat averages 

 about 2.5 mm., the shortest pedicels within a spikelet of a naked oat 

 thus being still longer than the average length of the pedicel in the 

 spikelet of the common oat. 



It is of interest to note that the absolute length of the pedicels in the 

 different spikelets of a panicle is also subject to variation. The upper- 

 most spikelets of the main axis of the panicles, as well as the uppermost 

 spikelets of each whorl, show the greatest absolute length of the pedi- 

 cels, and consequently the longest spikelets. In the spikelets situated 

 nearer the base of a whorl the pedicels have a tendency to be reduced 

 in length. The same is true of the panicle as a whole. There is a 

 gradual reduction of the absolute length of the pedicels and spikelets 



