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Avena ludoviciana

Common name:	Oats	Family:	Gramineae
Author:	Durand.	Botanical references:
Synonyms:
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	Europe - Mediterranean, to S.W. Asia. An introduced weed in Britain[17].
Habitat:	Dry wasteland, cultivated ground and meadows, especially on heavier soils[200]. A spreading weed in the Mediterranean where it is becoming a pest[89].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	0

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	A. persica[P] A. sterilis[B,C,CAL,DUTCH,E,G,H,HORTIPLEX,L,P] A. sterilis ssp. ludoviciana[P] A. sterilis subsp. ludoviciana[G] A. sterilis var. ludoviciana[P]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Aegilops [E], Animated Oat [P,B,L], Sterile Oat [L], Wilde Haver [D],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Cyperales. Renamed to Poaceae -- Grass family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	Europe
Noxious, Invasive and Injurious Weeds	From USDA PLANTS database, Weeds Australia , DEFRA Injurious Weeds
	Listed as noxious/invasive for: Whole USA, Florida, North Carolina.

Physical Characteristics

Annual. It is not frost tender. It is in flower from June to July, and the seeds ripen from August to October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Wind. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 0/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, requires well-drained soil and can grow in heavy clay soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Cultivated Beds.

Edible Uses

Coffee; Seed.

Seed - cooked[177]. The seed ripens in the latter half of summer and, when harvested and dried, can store for several years. It has a floury texture and a mild, somewhat creamy flavour. It can be used as a staple food crop in either savoury or sweet dishes. The seed can be cooked whole, though it is more commonly ground into a flour and used as a cereal in all the ways that oats are used, especially as a porridge but also to make biscuits, sourdough bread etc. The seed can also be sprouted and eaten raw or cooked in salads, stews etc.
The roasted seed is a coffee substitute.

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

None known

Other Uses

Fibre; Mulch; Paper; Thatching.

The straw has a wide range of uses such as for bio-mass, fibre, mulch, paper-making and thatching[171]. Some caution is advised in its use as a mulch since oat straw can infest strawberries with stem and bulb eelworm.

Cultivation details

Succeeds in any moderately fertile soil in full sun[200]. Prefers a poor dry soil[134].
This species is a weed of cultivated land, its seeds are somewhat smaller than the cultivated oats and the yields are rather lower.
Oats are in general easily grown plants but, especially when grown on a small scale, the seed is often completely eaten out by birds. Some sort of netting seems to be the best answer on a garden scale.

Propagation

Seed - sow in situ in early spring or in the autumn. Only just cover the seed. Germination should take place within 2 weeks.

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

Web References

[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Avena sterilis (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[C] Taxon data. from the CalFlora database.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database

References for Avena sterilis ssp. ludoviciana (a possible synonym).

[P] Data. (uses, distribution, wetland) from the USDA'a Plants database.

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[17] Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962
A very comprehensive flora, the standard reference book but it has no pictures.

[89] Polunin. O. and Huxley. A. Flowers of the Mediterranean. Hogarth Press 1987 ISBN 0-7012-0784-1
A very readable pocket flora that is well illustrated. Gives some information on plant uses.

[134] Rice. G. (Editor) Growing from Seed. Volume 2. Thompson and Morgan. 1988
Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation. An interesting article on Ensete ventricosum.

[171] Hill. A. F. Economic Botany. The Maple Press 1952
Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some a bit of detail about the plants it does cover.

[177] Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984 ISBN 3874292169
An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of latin names with a brief list of edible parts.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
WEB search engine by Rich Morris - Home Page- Contact Info
Blagdon Cross, Ashwater, Beaworthy, Devon, EX21 5DF, UK.
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We make no claims of magical effects or supernatural powers for any item in this catalog. In spite of legendary attributes or occult and craft tradition, such items are offered as curios only and beliefs concerning their magical effectiveness are related only for historical interest.