Burke: Avena fatua

	Avena fatua
	wild oat
Habit	Annuals, the culms to 1 m. tall, hollow.
Leaves	Sheaths open; ligules 3-6 mm. long, obtuse to acute, puberulent; blades 3-10 mm. broad, scabrous, often with a few long hairs.
Flowers	Inflorescence a large, open panicle, the spikelets pendulous; spikelets usually 3-flowered, the rachilla readily disarticulating between the florets, strongly bearded; glumes membranous, the first 7-nerved, the second 9-nerved; lemmas densely bearded on the callus, the upper portion greenish, but the tip membranous and acutely bilobed for 1 mm.; first 2 florets with twisted, strongly-bent awns up to 4 cm. long; lodicules 2 mm. long.
Fruits	Utricle

	Avena fatua
Flowering time	May-September
Habitat	Fields, roadsides, wastelots, and other disturbed areas.
Distribution	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across North America to the Atlantic Coast. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Introduced from Eurasia
Conservation status	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	A. barbata, A. sativa
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Avena fatua

wild oat

Habit

Annuals, the culms to 1 m. tall, hollow.

Leaves

Sheaths open;

ligules 3-6 mm. long, obtuse to acute, puberulent;

blades 3-10 mm. broad, scabrous, often with a few long hairs.

Flowers

Inflorescence a large, open panicle, the spikelets pendulous;

spikelets usually 3-flowered, the rachilla readily disarticulating between the florets, strongly bearded;

glumes membranous, the first 7-nerved, the second 9-nerved;

lemmas densely bearded on the callus, the upper portion greenish, but the tip membranous and acutely bilobed for 1 mm.; first 2 florets with twisted, strongly-bent awns up to 4 cm. long;

lodicules 2 mm. long.

Fruits

Utricle