Avena fatua
common wild oats, flaxgrass, folle avoine, oatgrass, wheat oats, wild oat
8-160 cm, prostrate to erect when young, becoming erect at maturity.
of the basal leaves with scattered hairs, upper sheaths glabrous;
ligules 4-6 mm, acute;
blades 10-45 cm long, 3-15 mm wide, scabridulous.
7-40 cm long, 5-20 cm wide, nodding.
18-32 mm, with 2(3) florets;
disarticulation beneath each floret;
disarticulation scars of all florets round to ovate or triangular.
subequal, 18-32 mm, 9-11-veined;
calluses bearded, hairs to 1/4 the length of the lemmas;
lemmas 14-22 mm, usually densely strigose below midlength, sometimes sparsely strigose or glabrous, veins not extending beyond the apices, apices usually bifid, teeth 0.3-1.5 mm, awns 23-42 mm, arising in the middle 1/3 of the lemmas;
lodicules without lobes on the wings;
anthers about 3 mm.
= 42.
Avena fatua
Avena fatua is native to Europe and central Asia. It is known as a weed in most temperate regions of the world; it is considered a noxious weed in some parts of Canada and the United States.
Avena fatua is sometimes confused with A. occidentalis, but differs in having shorter, wider spikelets, fewer florets, and a distal floret which does not have a heart-shaped disarticulation scar. Hybrids between A. fatua and A. sativa are common in plantings of cultivated oats. The hybrids resemble A. sativa, but differ in having the fatua-type lodicule; some also have a weak awn on the first lemma. They are easily confused with fatuoid forms of A. sativa.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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