Avena barbata
| Avena barbata | |
| Light: |  |
| Moisture: |   |
| Hardiness: | 5 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Blooms: | Early Summer-Mid Summer |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Avena barbata (common name: slender oat)
Propagation: Seed - sow in situ in early spring or in the autumn. Only just cover the seed. Germination should take place within 2 weeks.
Cultivation: Succeeds in any moderately fertile soil in full sun[1].
A triploid species, it is rarely cultivated for its edible seed[2].
Oats are in general easily grown plants but, especially when grown on a small scale, the seed is often completely eaten out by birds. Some sort of netting seems to be the best answer on a garden scale.
Range: Europe to Asia.
Habitat: Dry wasteland, cultivated ground and meadows, especially on heavier soils[3][1].
Edibility: Seed - cooked[2]. Rather small[4]. The seed ripens in the latter half of summer and, when harvested and dried, can store for several years. It has a floury texture and a mild, somewhat creamy flavour. It can be used as a staple food crop in either savoury or sweet dishes. The seed can be cooked whole, though it is more commonly ground into a flour and used as a cereal in all the ways that oats are used, especially as a porridge but also to make biscuits, sourdough bread etc. The seed can also be sprouted and eaten raw or cooked in salads, stews etc.
The roasted seed is a coffee substitute.
Usage: The straw has a wide range of uses such as for bio-mass, fibre, mulch, paper-making and thatching[5]. Some caution is advised in its use as a mulch since oat straw can infest strawberries with stem and bulb eelworm.
Pollinators: Wind
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
Seed Ripens: Late Summer-Mid Fall
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Heavy Clay: Grows in heavy-clay soils.
Links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Schery. Robert. Plants for Man. Prentice Hall, 1972.
- ↑ Komarov, Vladimir. Flora of the USSR. Gantner Verlag, 1968.
- ↑ Moerman, Daniel. Native American Ethnobotany. Timber Press, 1998.
- ↑ Hill, Albert. Economic Botany. The Maple Press, 1952.