Avena strigosa
| Avena strigosa | |
| Light: |  |
| Moisture: |   |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Height: | 3' |
| Blooms: | Early Summer-Mid Summer |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Avena strigosa (common name: bristle oats)
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]. Prefers a poor dry soil[2].
Occasionally cultivated for its edible seed, especially in wetter and cooler climates such as Wales, Scotland and Ireland[3][4], it is lower yielding than A. sativa and considered to be no more than a weed in many areas[4]. The smallness of its grain renders it unfit for cultivation in any but poor mountainous soils[5]. It could, however, be of value in any breeding programme for the cultivated oats.
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: N. Europe. A casual in Britain[6].
Habitat: Dry wasteland, cultivated ground and meadows, especially on heavier soils[1].
Edibility: Seed - cooked[7][3][4][8]. 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[9]. 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.
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.
- ↑ Rice, Graham. Growing from Seed Volume 2. Thompson and Morgan, 1988.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Tutin, Tom et al.. Flora Europaea. Cambridge University Press, 1964.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Usher, George. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable, 1974.
- ↑ Hedrick, Ulysses. Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. Dover Publications, 1972.
- ↑ Clapham, Arthur and Tom Tootin, Edmund Warburg. Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press, 1962.
- ↑ Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
- ↑ Kunkel, Günther. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books, 1984.
- ↑ Hill, Albert. Economic Botany. The Maple Press, 1952.