BRISTLE-POINTED OAT 539 



hairy base, two awn-like tips, and a long, bent, twisted dorsal 

 awn. 



Yellow or Golden Oat-Grass (Trisetum flavescens Beauv. = 

 Avena flavescens L.). — A somewhat creeping perennial 

 grass, which grows from i to 2 feet high ; met with upon 

 almost all soils, but especially prevalent on those of 

 calcareous nature. The spikelets are shining and of yellowish 

 colour. 



It is a useful grass, and is liked by all kinds of stock, but the 

 yield is somewhat small. 



The 'seed' is high in price, usually of poor germinating 

 capacity, and frequently adulterated with worthless wavy hair- 

 grass (see p. 665). 



Genus Avena. 



Panicle spreading ; spikelets with two or more flowers ; empty 

 glumes, thin, membranous, equalling or exceeding the flower- 

 ing glumes in length ; flowering glumes stouter, rounded on the 

 back, with a long, bent, twisted dorsal awn. 



Cultivated Oat {Avena sativa L.). — (See p. 492.) 



Wild Oat {Avena fatua L.). — An annual with a large spreading 

 panicle, probably the origin of the cultivated oat, but differing 

 from the latter in the possession of a tuft of reddish yellow hairs 

 at the base of the flowering glume. 



It is a troublesome weed among corn crops when once 

 established. 



Bristle-Pointed Oat {Avena strigosa L.) is an annual 

 much resembling the common cultivated oat, but with smaller 

 spikelets. It is distinguished from the latter by its flowering 

 glume being divided, and the tips of the two parts prolonged 

 into awn-like points or bristles ; between these lies the 

 dorsal awn, and the whole glume appears to possess three 

 awns, 



