A V E N A strigosa.
Bristle-pointed Oat.
TRIANDRIA Digynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. of 2 valves, containing several florets.
Outer valve of the corolla bearing a twisted awn on
its back.
S pec. Char. Panicle o b long , its b ranches pointing one
w ay . Flore ts two in each c a ly x ; their outer valves
tipped with a double bristle.
Syn. A v e n a strigosa. Schreb. Lips. 52. Retz. Obs.
j'asc. 1 . 1 1 . TVith. 166. Hull. 26. Willden. Sp.
PI. v. 1 . 446. Host. Gram.- v. 2. 41. t. 56.
A l t h o u g h Dr. Withering had admitted this on the list
of British plants, I left it out of the Flora Brilannica, conceiving
his specimen to have sprung from some accidental importation
of foreign seed. Since that time, however, we have
had such authentic information from Mr. Brodie, the Kev.
H. Davies, Mr. Robson, Mr. E. Forster, and other friends,
of its being a common weed in corn-fields in Scotland, Wales,
Yorkshire, and even on the downs of Cornwall, that it seems
to have a good claim to be reckoned among our natives. It is
annual, flowering in July.
It resembles the common Cultivated Oat in general habit
and size j but the panicle when it comes forth shows a striking
difference, being oblong and somewhat crowded, its branches
all leaning to one side. The essential difference resides in the
outer glumes o f each floret being each tipped with two straight,
prominent, reddish, rough bristles, over and above the great
awn at the back ; which circumstance gives the whole panicle
a remarkably bristly or strigose appearance. The florets,, naturally
2 in each calyx, vary to 3 or 4 .