PLANTS CULTIVATED FOR THEIE SEEDS. 375 



hemisphere that we must seek for the home of the species, 

 but in those countries of the northern hemisphere where 

 it was anciently cultivated. 



Oats sow themselves on rubbish-heaps, by the way- 

 side, and near cultivated ground more easily than other 

 cereals, and sometimes persist in such a way as to 

 appear wild. This has been observed in widely separate 

 places, as Algeria and Japan, Paris and the north of 

 China.^ Instances of this nature render us sceptical as 

 to the wild nature of the oats which Bove said he found 

 in the desert of Sinai. It has also been said ^ that the 

 traveller Olivier saw oats wild in Persia, but he does not 

 mention the fact in his work. Besides, several annual 

 species nearly resembling oats may deceive the traveller. I 

 cannot discover either in books or herbaria the existence 

 of really wild oats either in Europe or Asia, and Bentham 

 has assured me that there are no such specimens in the 

 herbarium at Kew ; but certainly the half- wild or 

 naturalized condition is more frequent in the- Austrian 

 states from Dalmatia to Transylvania^ than elsewhere. 

 This is an indication of origin which may be added to 

 the historical and philological arguments in favour of 

 eastern temperate Europe. 



Avena strigosa, Schreber, appears to be a variety of 

 the common oats, judging from the experiments in culti- 

 vation mentioned by Bentham, who adds, it is true, that 

 these need confirmation.* There is a good drawing of the 

 variety in Host, Icones Graminum Austriacoruin, ii. pi. 

 56, which may be compared with A. sativa, pi. 59. For 

 the rest, Avena strigosa has not been found wild. It 

 exists in Europe in deserted fields, which confirms the 

 hypothesis that it is a form derived by cultivation. 



Avena orientalis, Schreber, of which the spikelets 



* Munby, Catal. Alger., edit. 2, p. 36 ; Franchet and Savatier, Enum. 

 PI, Jap., ii. p. 175; Cosson, Fl. PariSj ii. p. 637 ; Bunge, Enum. Chin., 

 p. 71, for the variety nuda. 



• Lamarck, Diet. EncycL, i. p. 331. 



• Yiviani, Fl. Dalmat., i. p. 69 ; Host, Fl. Austr., i. p. 138 ; Neilreich, 

 Fl. Wien., p. 85; Bamngarten, Enwm. Transylv., iii. p. 259 j FarkaS| 

 Fl. Croatica, p. 1277- 



* Bentham, Handbook of British Flora^ edit, 4, p. 544. 



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