210 A TEXT-BOOK OF GRASSES 
the lemmas, the latter being awnless or bearing a straight 
awn. A wild species (A. fatua) differs in having the lemma 
covered with brown hairs and in having a stout geniculate 
twisted dorsal awn attached near the base. This species 
is a native of Europe but is introduced on the Pacific 
coast where it is a common weed known as wild oats and 
where it is often used for hay. 
Uh | fees fee 
/ WYP 
Mog EB 
MBE vi 
SS —, 
ANS 
eh 
NSS 
Avena sativa L. Cultivated oat. An- 
nual; culms erect, tufted, smooth, 2 to 4 
feet high; sheaths smooth, striate, the 
lower rather papery; ligule membranace- 
ous, truncate, 1 to 3 mm. long, toothed or 
serrate, decurrent along the margin of the 
sheath; blades flat, as much as 1 foot 
long and 1% inch wide, scabrous especially 
on the margins; panicle open or more or 
less contracted, erect or nodding, some- 
times 1-sided, the pedicels thickened at 
the apex; spikelets large, drooping, vari- 
NW: War 2 able in size but usually about 34 to 1 inch long, 
MY i the glumes strongly several-nerved, membra- 
J y at naceous, acuminate, scabrous, containing usually 
2 florets, the lemmas smooth or slightly hairy at 
the base, the teeth acute but not awned, the 
RS Vy , : 
\ SUZ i £= dorsal awn absent or, if present, usually straight 
A AW Za 
NR and not much exceeding the glumes, often pre- 
Ney : 
\\ AS WW sent only on the lower floret, the palea inclosed 
RWVE ; 
by the inrolled margin of the lemma, densely 
Fie. 43. Notholcus lanatus. 
Inflorescence, X 24; spikelet, 
the two florets raised from 
the glumes, X7. 
short-ciliate on the 2 keels. The florets 
do not easily disarticulate, a condition 
probably due to cultivation. Commonly 
cultivated and often escaped from fields 
and in the vicinity of elevators, mills, 
railroads and in waste places, but rarely 
established’ permanently. There are sev- 
eral races or possibly species in cultiva- 
tion. The naked oat (A. nuda L.) differs 
in having more than 2 florets and in 
