Wild oat, an annual grass native to Europe, is widely naturalized in many 

 parts of the United States, occurring along roadsides and in grain fields, and, 

 to some extent, on the range, but only in California is it sufficiently well estab- 

 lished to rank as an important range plant. This species is often the dominant 

 plant in California valleys and foothills, growing in nearly pure stands over 

 large areas and in a variety of soils. Although it occurs in pine stands, it is 

 characteristic of open slopes. Wild oat was well established in California at 

 a very early date, probably at the time the missions were established. 



Today, many of the hills and valleys in California are clothed with a cover 

 of wild oat, together with annual species of bromegrass and fescue. Clements J 

 points out that, in a country with winter rainfall, the perennial grasses are 

 especially susceptible to damage by overgrazing during the dry period from 

 May to December. In fact, the original bunchgrass cover in the foothills of 

 central and southern California was replaced largely by wild oat due to the 

 long-continued overgrazing which began during the Spanish occupation and, 

 at the present time, wild oat has come to simulate a climax type in many 

 respects. However, in recent decades, it has suffered more and more from 

 overgrazing, gradually being replaced by less palatable bromes and fescues. 



Wild oat produces an abundance of forage and is highly palatable until 

 the seeds are dropped and the herbage dies. It is a winter annual in Cal- 

 ifornia, its development being dependent upon the winter rains. With the 

 advent of the fall rains in that State, much of the dried herbage is devoured 

 with the new lush growth. Since wild oat is an annual, a seed crop must be 

 matured and distributed each year if the plant is to be maintained on the 

 range. In California a rapid growth of the grass is made in the spring, 

 seed begins to ripen in May, and by the latter part of June the seed has 

 largely fallen. Preliminary experiments have indicated that the species should 

 be grazed lightly during the seed-production period from about mid-March to 

 the last of June. After the seed has fallen the trampling of grazing animals 

 assists in planting it. 2 This species is a good hay plant, and in some locali- 

 ties is regularly mowed for that purpose. Ordinarily, sufficient seed matures 

 and shells out so that the grass maintains itself. 



The seeds of wild oat, gathered by beating them into baskets, are consumed 

 in large quantities by the Indians. The hairs and awns are singed off, and 

 the seeds parched by tossing them about in shallow baskets with live coals. 

 Finally, they are ground into a meal known as pinole. 3 Wild oat is also 

 used by rustic anglers as an artificial fly. 4 



Smooth wild oat (A. fatua, glabrata) , a variety of wild oat, and slender oat 

 (A. barbata), both annuals and natives of Europe, also occur in California. 

 They are commonly associated with wild oat and are similar to it in pal- 

 atability and productive capacity. Smooth wild oat differs from the others 

 in having smooth rather than hairy lemmas. In slender oat the lemmas are 

 clothed with red hairs and the teeth of the lemmas terminate in long bristles, 

 but wild oat has brown, hairy lemmas and is without long bristles. 



The generic name Avena, is the classic Latin word for oat and was adopted 

 for the genus by Linnaeus. Oat (A. sativa), the cereal, is one of the six species 

 of Avena, two of which are native, that are found in the United States. Wild 

 oat is the only range species sufficiently abundant to be of much importance. 



Some believe that the domesticated species has been derived from wild oat 

 by cultivation and selection, and that if neglected enotigh will revert into the 

 wild species. There is no conclusive proof of this, however, although the two 

 species are very closely related. Wild oat differs from oat chiefly in the long 

 awns, longer flower heads, densely hairy instead of smooth lemmas, and in the 

 fact that the grain readily fall from the glumes. 



1 Clements, F. E. THE RELICT METHOD IN DYNAMIC ECOLOGY. Jour. Ecology [London] 

 22(1) : 1-68, illus. 1934. 



2 Sampson, A. W., and Chase, A. RANGE GRASSES OF CALIFORNIA. Calif. Agr. Expt. 

 Sta. Bull. 430, 94 pp., illus. 1927. 



3 Chesnut, V. K. PLANTS USED BY THE INDIANS OP MENDOCINO COUNTY. CALIFORNIA. 

 U. S. Dept. Agr., Div. Bot., Contrib. U. S. Natl. Herbarium 7 : 295-422, illus. 1902. 



* Sowerby, J. ENGLISH BOTANY ; OR COLOURED FIGURES OF BRITISH PLANTS. Edited 

 by J. T. B. Syme and Mrs. [P.] Lankester. Ed. 3, enl. and entirely rev., 12 v., illus. 

 London. 1873-86. 



