68 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 
a. Agrarian oats. 
1.— Avena fatua—wild oat—locuste of three florets ; glu- 
mets hairy all over, outer one with a long stout awn 
bent at right angles, the lower half twisted when 
ripe.—A. 
2. A. strigosa—bristle-pointed oat—locuste of two per- 
fect flowers; glumels with two long bristly points 
awned.—A. 
b. Meadow Oats. 
3. A, pratensis—locuste of from three to five florets; 
leaves not hairy, finely serrated; whole plant rigid. 
4. A. pubescens—locuste of three florets; outer glumel 
jagged; leaves flat, more or less downy ; plants soft 
and hairy. 
5. A. flavescens—tlocuste of three florets, flowers small, 
yellow, very numerous. 
Avena fatua is a grass which almost universally accom- 
panies agrarian circumstances, that is to say, it seldom if 
ever occurs in a truly wild aboriginal state, but is an attend- 
ant upon tillage, and in some soils is a most common and 
detested weed in various crops, but more especially amid 
grain, whether of wheat, barley, or oats; sometimes too 
with beans or seeding vetches, or indeed in any crop which 
is of sufficient duration to allow it to ripen, and from which 
it is not eradicated in weeding by the hoe. 
It is a tall grass, rivalling the height of the finest culti- 
vated oat, from some forms of which, and especially those 
with a lax panicle, it is at a first glance not readily distin- 
guishable; however a more careful examination and com- 
parison with the so-called Avena sativa enables us to make 
out the following differences :— 
Avena fatua—Wild Oat. Avena sativa—Cultivated Oat. 
Florets usually three, each armed Florets usually two, either with 
with a stiff awn, which is bent in | or without awns, but straight and 
the middle, the lower part twisted | less rigid when present than in A. 
when ripe; covered, more particu- | fatua; quite smooth externally, and 
larly at the base, with straight | somewhat tumid from its enlarged 
harsh bristles; seed small and] seed or grain for which the plant 
worthless. is cultivated. 
