394 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



only) on the back. Stamens 3. Grain oblong, grooved on the upper 

 side, hairy at summit, free but invested by the upper palea. 



1. A. SATI'VA, L. Panicle regular; spikelets 2-flowered, pendulous; 

 florets shorter than the glumes, naked at base. 



CULTIVATED AVENA. Oats. Common Oats. 



FT. Avoine cultivee. Germ. Gemeiner Hafer. Span. Avena. 



2G8 



2G5 



Root annual. Culm 2-4 feet high, smooth. Leaves 6-15 inches long, lance-linear, 

 nerved, scabrous ; sfteattsstriate, smooth, rather loose; ligule lacerate. Panicle loose, 

 somewhat nodding, the spikelets all pedunculate, pendulous. Lower floret mostly awnocl 

 on the back ; upper floret avvnless, with a, pedicel at the base of the upper palea, bearing at 

 its summit membranaceous rudiments of a third floret. Grain closely invested by the 

 smnothish shining sub-cartilaginous paleae. 



Fields : cultivated as a fallow crop. F-l. July. Fr. August. 



Obs. The native country of this plant as of most of our cultivated 

 grains seems to be somewhat uncertain, though this one is said to 

 have been found native in the island of Juan Fernandez. Oats are ex- 



FIG. 265. A spike of 2-rowed Barley (Hordeum distichum). 266. A cluster of 3 spike- 

 lets, the central one fertile, the two lateral ones sterile. 



