Avena wiestii
Taxonomy and growth
Uses
Edible uses
Seed - cooked[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[1]. 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 stony places and mounds[4].
- Light
- full sun
- Shade tolerance
- no shade
- Water
- moderate
- Soil textures
- sandy, loamy, clay, heavy clay
- Soil pH
- acid, neutral, alkaline
- Drainage
- well drained
- 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
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 diploid species, it is of little commercial importance[3]. The following notes are based on the general needs of the genus. Succeeds in any moderately fertile soil in full sun[2]. 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
Hill. A. F. Economic Botany. The Maple Press 1952-00-00
Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992-00-00 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Schery. R. W. Plants for Man.
Komarov. V. L. Flora of the USSR. Israel Program for Scientific Translation 1968-00-00