Practical
Plants

Avena byzantina

Red Oat

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Taxonomy and growth

Family
Gramineae
Genus
Avena
Life cycle
annual
Fertility
Wind
Flower type
hermaphrodite
Pollinators
Wind

Uses

Edible uses

Seed - cooked[6][1][2][3]. 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.

Product or use
Coffee
Plant part
Seed

Material uses

The straw has a wide range of uses such as for bio-mass, fibre, mulch, paper-making and thatching[2]. Some caution is advised in its use as a mulch since oat straw can infest strawberries with stem and bulb eelworm.

Product or use
Fibre
Product or use
Mulch
Product or use
Paper
Product or use
Thatching

Environment

Range
Europe - Mediterranean.
Habitat
Dry wasteland, cultivated ground and meadows, especially on heavier soils[4]. Mainly found on dry or saline soils[5].
Light
full sun
Shade tolerance
no shade
Water
moderate
Soil textures
sandy, loamy, clay
Soil pH
acid, neutral, alkaline, very alkaline
Drainage
well drained
Tolerances
drought
Tolerates Nutritionally Poor Soil
No
Drought
tolerant
Salinity
tolerant

Propagation

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

Cultivation

We have very little information on this species, but it should be possible to grow it as a spring-sown annual in Britain, and might also succeed as an autumn-sown crop. A hexaploid species, one report says that it is possibly a sub-species of A. sterilis, and is often cultivated for its edible seed in warmer temperate zones[6], whilst some modern works see it as no more than a synonym of A. sativa. This species succeeds in saline soils[5]. It tolerates a pH in the range 5.3 to 8.2. The following notes are based on the general needs of the genus. Succeeds in any moderately fertile soil in full sun[4]. 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.

References

  1. Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976-00-00

    ↩

  2. Hill. A. F. Economic Botany. The Maple Press 1952-00-00

    ↩1↩2

  3. Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990-00-00 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9

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  4. Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992-00-00 ISBN 0-333-47494-5

    ↩1↩2

  5. ? Flora Europaea Cambridge University Press 1964-00-00

    ↩1↩2

  6. Schery. R. W. Plants for Man.

    ↩1↩2

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