Practical
Plants

Avena strigosa

Bristle Oats

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Taxonomy and growth

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

Uses

Edible uses

Seed - cooked[1][8][9][5]. 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[4]. 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
N. Europe. A casual in Britain[3].
Habitat
Dry wasteland, cultivated ground and meadows, especially on heavier soils[7].
Light
full sun
Shade tolerance
no shade
Water
moderate
Soil textures
sandy, loamy, clay, heavy clay
Soil pH
acid, neutral, alkaline
Tolerances
drought
Tolerates Nutritionally Poor Soil
No
Drought
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

Succeeds in any moderately fertile soil in full sun[7]. Prefers a poor dry soil[2]. Occasionally cultivated for its edible seed, especially in wetter and cooler climates such as Wales, Scotland and Ireland[8][9], it is lower yielding than A. sativa and considered to be no more than a weed in many areas[9]. The smallness of its grain renders it unfit for cultivation in any but poor mountainous soils[6]. It could, however, be of value in any breeding programme for the cultivated oats. 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. F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951-00-00

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  2. Rice. G. (Editor) Growing from Seed. Volume 2. Thompson and Morgan. 1988-00-00

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  3. Clapham, Tootin and Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press 1962-00-00

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

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  5. Kunkel. G. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books 1984-00-00 ISBN 3874292169

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  6. Hedrick. U. P. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications 1972-00-00 ISBN 0-486-20459-6

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

    ↩1↩2

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

    ↩1↩2

  9. Usher. G. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable 1974-00-00 ISBN 0094579202

    ↩1↩2↩3

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