Editing Avena

{{Short description|Genus of grasses oat}}
{{About|cereal grass plants||Avena (disambiguation)}}
{{Redirect|Wild oat||Wild Oats (disambiguation)}}
{{Italic title}}
{{automatic taxobox
| name = Oats
| image = Avena fatua1.jpg
| image_caption = Common wild oat (''[[Avena fatua]]'')
| display_parents = 4
| taxon = Avena
| authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|L.]] 1753 not Scop. 1777 nor Thell. 1911<ref>[http://www.tropicos.org/NameSearch.aspx?name=Avena&commonname= Tropicos, search for ''Avena'']</ref><ref>[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/8394627#page/327/mode/1up Thellung, Albert. 1911. Vierteljahrsschrift der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zürich 56: 311–337] in German</ref>
| type_species_authority=[[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]<ref>lectotype designated by Nash in N. L. Britton et A. Brown, Ill. Fl. N.U.S. ed. 2. 1: 218 (1913)</ref>
| type_species= ''[[Avena sativa]]''
|synonyms_ref=<ref name=z>[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/synonomy.do?name_id=451095 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]</ref>
|synonyms=
* ''Preissia'' <small>Corda</small> 
* ''Anelytrum'' <small>Hack.</small>
}}

'''''Avena''''' is a [[genus]] of Eurasian and African plants<ref>[http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?1190 List of Avena species on GRIN]</ref> in the [[Poaceae|grass family]]. Collectively known as the [[oats]], they include some species which have been cultivated for thousands of years as a food source for humans and livestock.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://delta-intkey.com/grass/www/avena.htm |title=''Avena'' |access-date=2009-08-19 |author=Watson, L. and M. J. Dallwitz. |year=2008 |work=The Grass Genera of the World |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090820162235/http://delta-intkey.com/grass/www/avena.htm |archive-date=2009-08-20 }}</ref> They are widespread throughout Europe, Asia and northwest Africa. Several species have become naturalized in many parts of the world, and are regarded as invasive weeds where they compete with crop production. All oats have edible [[seed]]s, though they are small and hard to harvest in most species.<ref>Cabi, E. & M. Doğan. 2012. Poaceae. 690–756. In A. Güner, S. Aslan, T. Ekim, M. Vural & M. T. Babaç (eds.) Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi. Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını, Istanbul.</ref><ref>Röser, M., E. Döring, G. Winterfeld & J. Schneider. 2009. Generic realignments in the grass tribe Aveneae (Poaceae). Schlechtendalia 19: 27–38</ref>

== Ecology ==
''Avena'' species, including cultivated oats, are used as food plants by the [[larva]]e of some [[Lepidoptera]] species, including [[rustic shoulder-knot]] and [[setaceous Hebrew character]].

For diseases of oats, see [[List of oat diseases]].

== Species ==
===Cultivated oats===
One species is of major commercial importance as a [[cereal]] grain. Four other species are grown as crops of minor or regional importance.<ref name=z/><ref>Bailey, L.H. & E.Z. Bailey. 1976. Hortus Third i–xiv, 1–1290. MacMillan, New York</ref>

* ''[[Avena sativa]]'' – the common oat, a cereal crop of global importance and the species commonly referred to as "oats"
* ''[[Avena abyssinica]]'' – the Ethiopian oat, native to Ethiopia, Eritrea, + Djibouti; naturalized in Yemen + Saudi Arabia
* ''[[Avena byzantina]]'', a minor crop in Greece and [[Middle East]]; introduced in Spain, Algeria, India, New Zealand, South America, etc.
* ''[[Avena nuda]]'' – the naked oat or hulless oat, which plays much the same role in Europe as does ''A. abyssinica'' in Ethiopia. It is sometimes included in ''A. sativa'' and was widely grown in Europe before the latter replaced it. As its [[nutrient]] content is somewhat better than that of the common oat, ''A. nuda'' has increased in significance in recent years, especially in [[organic farming]].
* ''[[Avena strigosa]]'' – the lopsided oat, bristle oat, or black oat,<ref>{{cite web |author=John Wishart |url=http://www.agronomy.uhi.ac.uk/html/blackoats_wheat.htm |title=Orkney College |publisher=Agronomy.uhi.ac.uk |access-date=2013-03-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927213641/http://www.agronomy.uhi.ac.uk/html/blackoats_wheat.htm |archive-date=2011-09-27 |url-status=dead }}</ref> grown for [[fodder]] in parts of Western Europe and [[Brazil]]

===Wild oats===
Several species of ''Avena'' occur in the wild, sometimes as weeds in agricultural fields. They are known as '''wild oats''' or '''oat-grasses'''. Those growing alongside cultivated oats in agricultural fields are considered nuisance [[weed]]s, as, being grasses like the crop, they are difficult to remove chemically; any standard [[herbicide]] that would kill them would also damage the crop. A specific herbicide must be used. The costs of this herbicide and the length of time it must be used to reduce the weed are significant, with seeds able to lie dormant for up to 10 years.<ref name=z/><ref>[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=103247 Flora of China Vol. 22 Page 323 <big>燕麦属</big> yan mai shu ''Avena'' Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 79. 1753. ]</ref><ref>[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=5&taxon_id=103247 Flora of Pakistan, ''Avena'' Linn.]</ref><ref>[http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/floraspecie.php?genere=avena Altervista Flora Italiana, genere ''Avena''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150201021857/http://luirig.altervista.org/flora/taxa/floraspecie.php?genere=avena |date=February 1, 2015 }} includes photos and distribution maps for several species</ref><ref>Pohl, R. W. 1994. 38. Avena L. 6: 232. In G. Davidse, M. Sousa Sánchez & A.O. Chater (eds.) Flora Mesoamericana. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D.F.</ref>
* ''[[Avena aemulans]]'' – European Russia
* ''[[Avena barbata]]'' – slender wild oat – from Portugal + Morocco to Tajikistan
* ''[[Avena brevis]]'' – short oat – central + southern Europe
* ''[[Avena chinensis]]'' – Germany, Austria; introduced in China, Belarus
* ''[[Avena clauda]]'' – Balkans, Middle East, Central Asia
* ''[[Avena eriantha]]'' – North Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, Caucasus
* ''[[Avena fatua]]'' – common wild oat – Europe, Asia, North Africa; naturalized in Australia, the Americas, various islands
* ''[[Avena longiglumis]]'' – North Africa, Israel, Spain, Portugal, Sardinia
* ''[[Avena maroccana]]'' – Moroccan oat – Morocco
* ''[[Avena murphyi]]'' – Morocco, Spain
* ''[[Avena prostrata]]'' – Morocco, Spain
* ''[[Avena saxatilis]]'' – Sicily and small nearby islands
* ''[[Avena sterilis]]'' – winter wild oat – Mediterranean, East Africa; temperate Asia; introduced in northern Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the Americas 
* ''[[Avena strigosa]]'' – Spain, France, Portugal; introduced in other parts of Europe as well as in scattered locations in Australia, New Zealand, the Americas
* ''[[Avena vaviloviana]]'' – Eritrea, Ethiopia
* ''[[Avena ventricosa]]'' – North Africa, Middle East
* ''[[Avena volgensis]]'' – European Russia

===Species formerly included===
Hundreds of taxa have been included in ''Avena'' at one time in the past but are now considered better suited to other genera:<ref name=z/> ''[[Agrostis]]'', ''[[Aira]]'', ''[[Ampelodesmos]]'', ''[[Anisopogon]]'', ''[[Arrhenatherum]]'', ''[[Avenula]]'', ''[[Bromus]]'', ''[[Calamagrostis]]'', ''[[Capeochloa]]'', ''[[Centropodia]]'', ''[[Corynephorus]]'', ''[[Danthonia]]'', ''[[Danthoniastrum]]'', ''[[Deschampsia]]'', ''[[Festuca]]'', ''[[Gaudinia]]'', ''[[Helictochloa]]'', ''[[Helictotrichon]]'', ''[[Hierochloe]]'', ''[[Lachnagrostis]]'', ''[[Lolium]]'', ''[[Parapholis]]'', ''[[Pentameris]]'', ''[[Periballia]]'', ''[[Peyritschia]]'', ''[[Rytidosperma]]'', ''[[Schizachne]]'', ''[[Sphenopholis]]'', ''[[Stipa]]'', ''[[Stipagrostis]]'', ''[[Tenaxia]]'', ''[[Tricholemma]]'', ''[[Triraphis]]'', ''[[Trisetaria]]'', ''[[Trisetum]]'', ''[[Tristachya]]'' and ''[[Ventenata]]''.

==Sociolinguistics==
"Sowing wild oats" is a phrase used since at least the 16th century; it appears in a 1542 [[tract (literature)|tract]] by [[Thomas Beccon]], a [[Protestant]] clergyman from [[Norfolk]]. Apparently, a similar expression was used in [[Roman Republic]]an times{{clarification needed|date=July 2023}}, possibly by [[Plautus]]. The origin of the expression is the fact that wild oats, notably ''A. fatua'', are a major weed in oat farming. Among European cereal grains, oats are hardest to tell apart from their weedy relatives, which look almost alike but yield little grain. The life cycle of ''A. fatua'' is nearly synchronous with that of common oat, and their relationship is an example of [[Vavilovian mimicry]]. Historically, growers could control the weed only by checking the crop plants one by one and hand-weeding. Consequently, "sowing wild oats" became a phrase to describe unprofitable activities. Given the reputation of oat grain to have [[Oat#Health|invigorating properties]] and the obvious connection between plant seeds and human "[[semen|seed]]", it is not surprising that the meaning of the phrase became a reference to the liaisons of an unmarried young male, which result in unwanted children born [[out of wedlock]].<ref>Quinion, Michael (November 1999): World Wide Words: [http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-sow1.htm Sow one's wild oats]. Retrieved 17 October 2007.</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Poaceae genera]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Commons category|Avena}}
* {{cite book |first1=Daniel |last1=Zohary |first2= Maria |last2=Hopf |first3= Ehud |last3=Weiss|title=Domestication of Plants in the Old World: The Origin and Spread of Domesticated Plants in Southwest Asia, Europe, and the Mediterranean Basin |edition= Fourth |publisher=Oxford: University Press |year=2012 }}

{{Oats}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q146760}}
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[[Category:Avena| ]]
[[Category:Cereals]]
[[Category:Poaceae genera]]
[[Category:Grasses of Africa]]
[[Category:Grasses of Asia]]
[[Category:Grasses of Europe]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]