FIELD OATS. 



A vena sativa L. 



PRELIMINARY. 



THE cultivated grass known as oats is too familiar to 

 need description. Specimens should be collected at 

 the time when some flowers of the panicle are 

 expanded and others are yet in the bud. This plant 

 begins to bloom shortly after the panicle is liberated 

 from the sheath. The time of blossoming is so little 

 marked by external changes that there is great danger 

 that specimens will be collected too late. Care should 

 be taken in lifting the plants from the ground not to 

 detach the empty grain from which it grew, which will 

 almost certainly be done if the plants are pulled up. 

 They should be dug and the dirt shaken gently from 

 the roots, which may be further cleaned by washing. 



The requisites for the complete study of the plant 

 are entire plants, preserved in alcohol ; a handful of 

 threshed oats ; alcohol ; magenta ; potassic hydrate ; 

 and iodine. 



LABORATORY WORK. 

 GROSS ANATOMY. 



A. GENERAL CHARACTERS. Note the four parts 

 of the plant : 



