燕麥屬

Avena sativa specimen Credit: cs kuoh

Annual. Panicle loose, nodding. spikelets large, more than 10 mm, 2-several-flowered, disarticulating below each floret or only above glumes; glumes herbaceous to membranous, usually equal and as long as spikelet, 3-11-nerved, rounded on back, smooth; lemmas coriaceous, rounded, bidentate to biaristulate the latter rarly with 2 additional setae, geniculately awned from the back (awn often reduced or absent in cultivated species); floret callus, when deciduous, acute to pungent. Ovary hairy; hilum linear.

Species ±25. Mainly Mediterranean and Middle East, extending to northern Europe, and widely introduced to other temperate regions.

Weedy places. A. fatua is one of the world’s worst weeds.

Lower Taxa

• Avena fatua L.
• Avena sativa L.