AVENA NUDA. J spec.pun.
Naked Oat.
Spec. Ci-iau. Spicules with two or three smooth florets, two only with an arista; seed,
. when ripe, yellow.
Avena nuda is a favourite with the farmer; and its lull grain and plentiful produce entitle it to a rank
in his estimation: the calyx contains sometimes three florets, but more commonly only two, with
the abortive rudiments of a third; the valves o f the corolla are perfectly smooth, and yellow. The
vegetables affording bread corn, and whose application by man are so obviously consistent with the
original design o f them, were so early made use of, and so generally resorted to, that their primal
stations are lost in their universality: of the habitats of Wheat and Barley we are in total darkness,
.but we are certain they were natives o f those parts of the earth where the human race were first
planted, and probably conveyed from thence by the migrating bands that sought subsistence or dominion
in distant regions, or imported as commerce produced civilization, and not common to all countries,
as many parts o f the inhabited world even at this day are ignorant o f their existence. But the
Oat seems to have been found in more places than one, doubtlessly native: the peculiar station mentioned
by Mr. Bruce, and the extraordinary size his plants acquired, without the probability o f their
having ever received the fostering hand or enlarging arts of man, deserve some attention, and merited
an introduction to the cultivation o f Europe.------Although we find several other species o f Avena in
Great Britain, all of them are obviously the relicks of cultivation, conveyed by animals^ strays from
the field, or strays from the bam, and though this nuda is continued in our Flora, it probably is a
partiality, sanctified by custom, that we admit it, to the exception of othefs, when all have perhaps
an equal right to insertion.------ To most of the species of Avena the corolla adheres closely round
the seed, even when fully ripe; by an operation, however, these valves are detached, and the seed in
that state is known under the name of Gruauts, Groats, or Grits; the A. nuda is generally selected
for this purpose.
A, the Calyx.
B, a set o f Florets from the Calyx.
C, the valves o f the Corolla.