Avena flavescens J. D. Hooker (1896), not Linnaeus (1753).

Perennial, loosely tufted. Culms erect from geniculate base, 12–80 cm tall, 1.5–2 mm in diam., glabrous, 2–3-noded. Leaf sheaths usually shorter than internodes, glabrous, margins joined near base; leaf blades flat, soft, 10–20 cm, 2–8 mm wide, adaxial surface scattered pilose; ligule 1–4 mm. Panicle lax, lanceolate in outline, 7–15 cm, gray-green, brown or purplish; branches 1–3 at basal node, capillary, flexuous, smooth, glabrous, up to 5 cm. Spikelets 6.5–9 mm, florets 1–3; rachilla filiform, villous; glumes unequal, narrowly lanceolate, lower glume 4.5–5.3 mm, upper glume 6–7.2 mm, apex finely acuminate; callus glabrous; lemmas 6.5–8 mm, firm, golden brown, scaberulous around keel, otherwise smooth, awned from upper 1/4–1/3, apex 2-toothed, teeth 2.5–3 mm, slenderly acuminate-aristulate; awn 9–14 mm, weakly geniculate, column twisted; palea 1/2–2/3 length of lemma, keels slightly convex, scabrid. Anthers 1–1.5 mm. Fl. Jul–Sep.

This is a locally distributed, high-altitude species with a slender habit and large, brown, long-awned spikelets.

Alpine scrub, meadows, gravel river banks; 4000–5000 m. Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [Bhutan, India (Sikkim), E Nepal].