172 GRAMINEAE. 
44. AVENA L, Spible7o7 07538: 
Annual or perennial grasses, with usually flat leaves and panicled spikelets. Spikelets 
2-many-flowered, or rarely 1-flowered; lower flowers perfect, the upper often staminate or 
imperfect. Scales 4-many (rarely 3); the 2 lower empty, somewhat unequal, membranous, 
persistent; flowering scales deciduous, rounded on the back, acute, generally bearing a dorsal 
awn, the apex often 2-toothed. Palet narrow, 2-toothed. Stamens 3. Styles short, distinct. 
Stigmas plumose. Grain oblong, deeply furrowed, enclosed in the scale and palet, free or 
sometimes adherent to the latter. [Old Latin name for the Oat. ] 
About 50 species, widely distributed in temperate regions, chiefly in the Old World. Oats 
(Avena sativa I,.) sometimes appears in waste places or in fields where it has been cultivated. 
Empty scales of the spikelet 6’’ in length or less, shorter than the flowering scales. 
Flowering scales with a ring of short hairs at the base; awn nearly as long as the scale. 
1. A. striata. 
Flowering scales naked at the base; awn not over one-half as long as the scale. 2, A, Sm tthit, 
Empty scales of the spikelet 6''-9'’ in length, enclosing the flowering scales. 3. A. fatua. 
1. Avena striata Michx. Purple Oat. (Fig. 393.) 
Avena striata Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1:73. 1803. 
Culms 1°-2° tall, erect, simple, slender, smooth 
and glabrous. Sheaths shorter than the inter- 
nodes, smooth or slightly scabrous; ligule ™%’” 
long or less; leaves erect, 1/6’ long, 1’’-3/ wide, 
smooth beneath, usually scabrous above; panicle 
2%4/-5’ in length, lax, the branches erect or 
ascending, naked below, the lower 1/—2!3’ long; 
spikelets 3-6-flowered, the empty scales smooth, 
the second 3//—3 '4’ in length, 3-nerved, the first 
two-thirds to three-quarters as long, 1-nerved; 
flowering scales 3’/—4’’ long, with a ring of short 
hairs at the base, strongly nerved, scabrous; 
awns as long as the scales or longer. 
In woods, New Brunswick to British Columbia, 
south to northern Pennsylvania, Minnesota and 
Dakota. Ascends to 3000 ft. in the Adirondacks. 
Spikelets reddish-purple. July—Aug. 
2. Avena Smithii Porter. Smith’s Oat. (Fig. 394.) 
Avena Smithit Porter; A. Gray, Man. Ed. 3, 640. 1867. 
Melica Smithti Vasey, Bull. Torr. Club, 15: 294. 1888. 
Culms 2'°-5° tall, erect, simple, scabrous. Sheaths 
shorter than the internodes, very rough; ligule 2/’ 
long; leaves 4’-S’ long, 3/’-6’’ wide, scabrous; panicle 
6’-12’ in length, the branches finally spreading; spike- 
lets 3-6-flowered; empty scales smooth, the second 
3//-4/’ in length, 5-nerved, the first shorter, obscurely 
3-nerved; flowering scales 5’’ long, naked at the base, 
strongly nerved, scabrous, bearing an awn one-fourth 
to one-half their length. 
Northern Michigan and Isle Royal. Summer. 
