78 
ENGLISH BOTANY. 
tinged with violet at the base and with dark awns. Glumes nearly 
equal, as long as the spikelets, herbaceous, with broad scarious margins, 
the lower one 5- to 7-ribbed, the upper 7- to 9-ribbed. Lower pale 
lanceolate, gradually acuminate, terminated by 2 long scabrous setiE 
about half the length of the rest of the pale or more, ultimately 
coriaceous and brown towards the base, with a few long scattered 
whitish hairs near the middle or wholly glabrous, 5-nerved, with 
the nerves conspicuous towards the apex and vanishing towards the 
base. Awn present in all the florets, from about the middle of the 
pale, that of the lowest floret about twice as long as the upper glume. 
Axis not fragile beneath the lowest floret, glabrous, except at the base 
of the upper floret, the hairs at the base of the second floret scarcely 
reaching to the base of the pale. 
A weed in cultivated fields. Scarcely naturalised in England and 
the south of Scotland, but frequent in the north, extending to Orkney 
and Shetland. Rather rare, but widely distributed in Ireland. 
[England,] [Scotland,] [Ireland.] Annual. Summer. 
Stems 18 inches to 4 feet high. Leaves G to 9 inches long by 1 to 
i inch broad. Panicle 4 to 10 inches long. Spikelets all pointing 
one way, about 1 inch long, exclusive of the awns. Lower pale ulti- 
mately brown and coriaceous, whence probably it takes its name of 
" black oat " in the northern districts, where it is largely cultivated. 
A. strigosa much resembles the common cultiv-ated oat, A. sativa, 
but may be readily recognised by its secund panicle, more slender 
spikelets terminating in i long seta^, which equal the glumes, and 
always with a long dark -coloured awn. The pale also is much darker 
coloured, more acuminate, and more strongly nerved towards the 
^The Tartarian or Potatoe oat, Avena Orientalis, which is also fre- 
quently cultivated, especially in Scotland, has the panicle secund as in 
A. strigosa, but much more narrow and dense, the florets shorter than 
the glumes, the lower pale not terminating in 2 setae, the uppermost 
or even both the florets without an awn. 
In A. strigosa and A. Orientalis fertilisation is certainly most com- 
monly if not always eflccted before the anthers protrude fn^m the 
'..Vies by which time they will be found empty of pollen: at least 
- - is the case in the county of Fife. A. sativa, hov/evcr, thou^;h 
. r:;ily fertilised in the same mo<le. may occasionally be found wfth 
:ruded anthers still containing pollen. 
Black- Oaf. 
