Jan. 1, 1925 
9 
A Study of Variability in the Burt Oat 
roneous because he states that oat 
growing in the South is a profitable 
farm enterprise and oat experiments 
conducted in the South have not been 
altogether with varieties belonging to 
Avena sativa, the northern oat group. 
He further states that the Algerian 
oats discussed by Trabut usually have 
been discarded from experiments in 
the South, as they appear to be inferior 
to the Red Rustproof both in yield 
and winter hardiness. 
In a very complete paper on the 
general subject of the immunity of 
plants from infectious diseases Vavilov 
(139) describes A. byzantina as being 
absolutely immune from the oat smut, 
Ustilago avenae, highly or completely 
resistant to the attacks of crown rust, 
Puccinia coronifera, and susceptible to 
stem rust of oats, Puccinia graminis. 
He also states that this oat is geograph¬ 
ically and phylogenetically distinct from 
ordinary European susceptible oats. If 
the variety thus described by Vavilov 
is the same as or similar to the Burt 
variety as known in the United States, 
his work confirms, in a general way, the 
opinions of American investigators on 
the disease resistance and distinct taxo¬ 
nomic position of this variety. In an 
earlier paper Vavilov (138) states his 
belief that A. fatua, A. sterilis , and A. 
ludoviciana may be regarded as the an¬ 
cestors of our cultivated oats. He 
suggests the use of physiological tests 
in genetics and systematics. The cy- 
tological data of Kihara (61) and 
Nikolaewa (88) suggest cytology as a 
further method for use in classifying 
oat species. 
Because of the apparent agreement 
of many features mentioned by these 
earlier writers as being characteristic 
of Avena byzantina with the characters 
of the cultivated varieties of red oats 
grown in the United States, it seems 
proper to propose that the name Avena 
byzantina be applied to the cultivated 
varieties of red oats in the South, in 
place of the name Avena sterilis, now 
used by nearly all American botanists 
and agronomists. 
It will be recalled that a distinct 
Latin name, Avena sativa, is applied to 
the cultivated varieties derived from 
Avena fatua, while the cultivated forms 
derived from Avena sterilis, though 
differing just as widely from the wild 
sterilis as the varieties of Avena sativa 
differ from the wild fatua, are desig¬ 
nated by the same Latin name as the 
wild species. It would seem logical 
to follow the usage of the European 
workers and apply the name Avena 
byzantina to the red oats grown in the 
southern United States. 
This name w^ould seem especially 
suitable when applied to such varieties 
as Burt and Fulghum, which in many 
respects are intermediate between 
Avena sativa and the red-oat group, 
until now designated as Avena sterilis. 
The w r riters have observed some forms 
of Burt kernels which very closely 
resemble those of A. sterilis byzantina, 
as illustrated by Trabut (135). The 
name Avena byzantina has been used 
in this sense by Trabut (135), and by 
Schulz (119), who states that many 
forms of this species closely resemble 
Avena sterilis, while other forms can 
scarcely be distinguished from Avena 
sativa. Schulz (120) considers the 
group of cultivated varieties designated 
as Avena byzantina to be polymorphous, 
a condition certainly characteristic of 
the Burt oat, as described in the present 
paper. Salmon and Parker (117) have 
suggested that the Fulghum oat may 
be of hybrid origin, the result of natural 
crossing between cultivated forms of 
Avena sativa and Avena sterilis, thus 
adding strength to the argument for 
the name Avena byzantina, as used in 
Europe. 
As mentioned by Schulz (119, 120), 
the Avena algeriensis of Trabut is con¬ 
sidered synonymous with Avena by¬ 
zantina, which would stand on the 
basis of priority. 
Schafer, Gaines, and Barbee (118), in 
grouping Washington oat varieties, 
state: 
The specific name for cultivated red oats is 
changed to “byzantina” in this bulletin to distin¬ 
guish them from the wild red oats, Avena sterilis L. 
Avena byzantina C. Koch is used in order to have a 
term to conform with Avena sativa L. as A. sterilis 
L. conforms with A. fatua L. 
The name Avena byzantina was used 
by the above authors in response to a 
statement from T. R. Stanton, agron¬ 
omist in charge of oat investigations, 
that the Office of Cereal Investigations 
was making this change in nomencla¬ 
ture on the basis of the information 
presented in the above literature re¬ 
view. The term Avena byzantina C. 
Koch (A. sterilis L.) was used in the 
Yearbook of the Department of Agri¬ 
culture for 1922. 10 
io ball, C. R., and others, oats, barley, rye, rice, grain, sorghums, seed flax, and buck¬ 
wheat. U. S. Dept. Agr. Yearbook 1922: 469-568. 1923. 
13949—25f-2 
