Avena sativa: oat, oat hay, oats, red oat, sativa oats, side oat, tree oat, wild oat

The common oat (Avena sativa) is a species of cereal grain grown for its seed, which is known by the same name (usually in the plural, unlike other grains). While oats are suitable for human consumption as oatmeal and rolled oats, one of the most common uses is as livestock feed.

Common Names

in English: black tartarian oats (a variety of Avena sativa L.), common oat, common oats, cultivated oat, cultivated oats, oat, oat hay, oats, red oat, sativa oats, side oat, tree oat, wild
oat
in Arabic: azekkoun, hartaman, khortan, shufan, tamenzirt, taskrunt, ziwan, zummeir
in Spanish: avena roja, avena común, avena
in Morocco: hortâl, âzqûn, wazqûn, wasqûn
in Latin America: avena, avena silvestre, awina
in Southern Africa: gewone hawer, sativa hawer; habore (Sotho)
in Bhutan: bachu
in China: yan mai
in India: ganer, jai, javi, jawi, kuljud, otdhanya, pai, seeme thoke godhi, vilaaythi jaw, wilayati jau, yupo
in Japan: ma-karasu-mugi
in Thailand: khaao ot, khao ot
in Hawaii: ‘oka

in Turkey: yulaf

Floral Description:

Annual. Culms solitary or tufted, erect, 40–180 cm tall, unbranched. Leaf sheaths usually glabrous; leaf blades 15–30 cm, 4–10 mm wide, glabrous, margins sometimes scaberulous; ligule 3–6 mm. Panicle loose and open or contracted, 20–40 cm, nodding; branches spreading or contracted. Spikelets 2–3 cm, florets 2(or 3); rachilla ± glabrous, straight, not disarticulating or fracturing irregularly at maturity, florets lacking a basal bearded callus, internodes short, less than 0.5 mm; glumes lanceolate, subequal, as long as spikelet, 7–9-veined; lemmas 1.2–2.5 cm, leathery in lower half, herbaceous and distinctly veined above, glabrous or nearly so, apex minutely and irregularly 2–4-denticulate; awn 2.5–3.5 cm, weakly geniculate or rudimentary or absent. Grain adherent to lemma and palea at maturity.

Chemical Constitutes

15R-Hydroxylinoleic acid, 29-Isofucosterol, alpha-Tocopherol, alpha-Tocotrienol, Avenacin A-1, Avenacin B-2, Avenacoside A, Avenacoside B, Avenalumin I, Avenanthramide A, beta-Tocopherol, beta-Tocotrienol, delta-Tocopherol, delta-Tocotrienol, gamma-Tocopherol, gamma-Tocotrienol, Gibberellin A3, Isofucosterol, Isoorientin 2''-O-arabinoside, Isoprene, Isoswertisin 2''-O-rhamnoside, Isoswertisin 4'-O-rhamnoside, Isovitexin 2''-O-arabinoside, Molludistin 2''-O-rhamnoside, Nuatigenin, Salcolin A, Salcolin B, Spermidine, Spermine

Pharmcological Activities and Uses:

Antiinflammatory, tonic, antidepressant, diuretic, depurative, cardiac, antioxidant, laxative, emollient, anticholesterolemic, nervine, uterine tonic, aphrodisiac, antispasmodic, sedative, stimulant, vulnerary, repellent. Moderate toxicity, under some circumstances capable of poisoning livestock. Can cause nitrate toxicity in livestock. Cattle are more prone to toxicity, but swine and turkeys have been poisoned on oat stubble. Grass tetany also occurs during periods of lush growth when ruminants suffer from a mineral imbalance. Oat hay is a common source of plant poisoning by nitrates.