136 



AvENA FLAVBSCBNs. Yellow Oat Grass. Platb CXVII. 



Panicle erect, much branched, spreading. Spikelets erect, about 

 three-flowered. Grlumes very unequal, the longer about equalling the 

 length of the spikelet. Flowers hairy at the base. Leaves flat, a little 

 downy. Ligule very short, obtuse. 



Avena flavescens, Linnceus. E. B. 952 ; ed. 2. 166. Hooker and 

 Arnott. Trisetum flavescens, Beauvoia. Bahington. Pamell. 



A common grass in dry meadows and pastures, especially where the 

 subsoil is either chalk or limestone. In the loose sandy ground some- 

 times overlying the former, it occasionally constitutes almost the sole 

 vegetation. Slightly creeping at the root, but not stoloniferous. 

 Stems smooth, glossy, from about a foot to a foot and a half in height. 

 Leaves yellowish-green, flat, acute, roughish on both sides. Inflo- 

 rescence erect, bright, yellow-green, changing to glossy golden yellow. 

 Panicle much branched, spreading widely while in flower, Spikelets 

 smaller than in any other native species of Avena, numerous, erect, 

 short, two- or three-flowered, one flower being often imperfect. Grlumes 

 very unequal, smooth, except on the middle vein or keel ; the inner 

 larger one nearly the length of the spikelet. Outer palea, bifid at the 

 extremity, terminating in two bristle-like points, the middle vein 

 prominent, the lateral ones indistinct or obsolete. Awns nearly twice 

 as long as the flowers, seldom more than two in each spikelet, the third 

 imperfect flower being usually awnless, and frequently consisting only 

 of a single stalked scale or bristle with hairs at the base. 

 Perennial. Flowers in July. 



This grass may generally be distinguished from all others, at a con- 

 siderable distance, by the peculiar bright yellow-green hue, of both 

 foliage and panicle, whence the specific name. It is seldom altogether 

 absent from the natural pasture, in either dry or moderately moist soil ; 

 and Swayne, Curtis, and other writers belonging to the earlier school 

 of agricultural improvement, toward the conclusion of the past, and the 

 commencement of the present century, praise it highly, regarding it as 

 the most valuable species of its genus for the use of the farmer, the 

 cultivated oat being of course excluded, as a cereal, from their com- 

 parison. Among modern writers and experimentalists, opinion con- 

 cerning its utility is perhaps less decided. Mr. Sinclair recommends 

 its use in laying down land for permanent pasture, but only in admix- 

 ture with others, and states thai he has found it to thrive best when 

 combined with Hordeitm pratense, Cynosurus cristatus, and Anthoxan- 

 ihum odoratum. Dr. Parnell remarks that " sheep prefer it to most 

 grasses," an observation seemingly corroborated by the fact of its 

 generally forming no inconsiderable proportion of the vegetation of the 

 upland pastures on which they thrive the best. 



