298 DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



Use. — Barlev at the present day is not largely used as a bread plant. It is 

 regarded us a valuable fattening feed for cattle. In England and Germany it 

 forms the beer-making grain. In Holland and north Germany it is used for 

 distilling, and is the principal grain from which whiskey and Hollands are 

 distilled. 



It is used to thicken soups, and sparingly for porridge and cakes. Pearl 

 barley is prepared by removing the hull, and is cooked as rice is. In northern 

 Scotland and adjacent isles it is an important bread grain, and with oats con- 

 stitutes a large part of bread material. 



Marts. — For Russia the principal markets are Odessa on the Black Sea, 

 and Riga on the Baltic ; for Turkey, Constantinople and Rodosto on the Sea 

 of Marmora ; for France, Marseilles on the Mediterranean, and Havre on the 

 English Channel ; for Germany, Hamburg on the Elbe, and Bremen on the 

 Weser. In the United States the markets are local, being confined to brewing 

 centers, as Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, etc. 



AVENA, L. Spikelets paiiicled, each having 2 to 5 flowers ; glumes 

 2, loose, membranous, and without terminal awns, about as long as 

 the paleje, the lower one usually toothed at the top, with a twisted 

 awn on the back ; the upper one awnless, with two keels ; scales 

 forked and large ; stamens 3 ; stigmas 2, sessile. Fruit subterete, 

 sulcate on the upper side, summit hairy. Annual with pendulous 

 spikelets, or perennial with erect spikelets. 



A. sativa, L. (Oats.) Stem 2 to 4 feet high, smooth. Leaves about a 

 foot long, linear or linear-lanceolate, nerved and rough; sheaths striate and 

 loose, ligulae cut; panicle loose and nodding; spikelets all with peduncles, 

 and hanging ; lower floret usually with an awn on the back, upper one awn- 

 less. Annual. Flowers in July. Fruits in August. 



Oats, like wheat and the other cereals, have a tapering stem and numerous 

 root leaves, and possess the same habit of tillering ; but the plant is wholly 

 different in its inflorescence and the form of its head, which in wheat, rye, and 

 barley is a compressed spike, or compound compressed spike, whose spikelets 

 are sessile. In the oat the head is a loose panicle ; the branches near the base 

 of the head in some cases are four inches long, decreasing towards the top, 

 forming a pyramidal or conical-shaped head. Some varieties have the branch- 

 ing all on one side, and on that account are called one-sided or secund oats. 



As this grain is raised from the seed, it departs from the specific form, pro- 

 ducing varieties. 



The A. sativa, however, is very constant, and little or no attention has been 

 given to the perpetuation or improvement of its varieties. A large-grained 

 secund form and a black-seed variety have in turn attracted the notice of cul- 

 tivators, but neither of these has become constant enough to gain importance. 



Geography. — The geographical range of oats is not so great as that of any 

 of the cereals before described. It endures a colder climate than any other, 

 but does not fill well south of the fortieth parallel in the north temperate zone ; 

 in the regions of no frost it does not fruit, except in elevations far above 

 the sea. 



Etymology. — Arena, the botanic name of the oat, was given by Linnaeus, 

 and is supposed to be derived from the Celtic word alen, eat. The specific 



