The Book of Grasses 



One of the grains cultivated in ancient times, this is still 

 the principal cereal of the extreme north of Europe, where the 



grain is used daily in the 

 kitchens of the working 

 people, who from it make 

 their "fladbrode," or 

 oaten cakes. 



Many varieties of this 

 cultivated grass {Avena 

 saliva) have been devel- 



ifl ^1! W\ ^^^ '^P^'^ ^" more modern 



'('] W\ /av\ v\\v^ days, the chief forms of which are 



Panicled Oats and Banner Oats — 



the former with symmetrical, and 



, the latter with one-sided panicles — 



and the large, drooping flowering-heads 



frequently bloom by the waysides where 



seed has been accidentally dropped. 



Although there are many species in 

 this genus, none of them is common in 

 the Eastern States. The Wild Oats 

 {Avena fdtua) is, perhaps, the most inter- 

 esting, but it is not often found east of 

 the Mississippi. The peculiar flowering 

 scales of this grass are half an inch long 

 and are covered with stiff, brown hairs 

 from among which projects a bent and 

 twisted awn more than an inch in length. 

 Like the twisted awns of other grasses, 

 the awn of Wild Oats, when dampened, 

 quickly uncoils and moves in a most 

 weird manner, as if suddenly endowed 

 with life. 



It may be that the apparent inward 

 volition of this strange awn was looked 

 upon as an evidence of influence from 

 the under-world, for it is certain that the 

 term "wild-oats " has long been a synonym 

 for the worthless — and enjoyable. Where 

 the Norse mythology credited the dwarf 

 140 



Cultivated 0at3 



