Spikelets 25-30 mm long; lowest lemma 19-25 mm long.

Fl. & Fr.Per.: May-August, sometimes as early as March.

Type: Turkestan, Lebedev (WIR, no. 628, fide Baum 1977).

Distribution: Pakistan (Sind, Baluchistan, Punjab, N.W.F.P. & Kashmir); Mediterranean eastwards to Pakistan and Northeast Africa.

The two subspecies of Avena fatua are more or less allopatric except where their ranges overlap in Pakistan. Pakistani material, where the subspecies are not particularly distinct, has been divided between them more or less arbitrarily, based on the traditional character of spikelet size.

Avena fatua is a common weed of cereal crops in much of Pakistan, particularly in the north, and is found between 1700 and 2200 m.