AVE'NA, the botanical name of the genus to which the cultivated Oat belongs. As understood by Linnaeus and the writers of his school, it comprehended many very distinct forms of Grasses, as well as the common cultivated kinds ; but by other botanists it is more correctly limited to the species that yield corn, and to such as are closely allied to them. They are known by their lax panicles, their two loose membranous glumes, and by the small number of their florets, each of which has one of its husks or palem armed with a strong twisted beard or awn. The grain is generally, but not uniformly, closely invested with the hardened husk.
The Common Oat (Arena satire), is that which is most generally cultivated for the use of man. Like most other corn-plants its native country is unknown ; it cannot however be supposed to be the offspring of cultivation or of chance, but is more likely to be an inhabitant of some of the northern provinces of Asia to which Europeans have little access. [Oer, in ARTS AND Sc. Div.] The Tartarian Oat is considered a distinct species, on account of its more compact and one-sided panicle, and of both its florets having a beard; it is however doubtful whether it can be regarded as anything more than a variety of A. saliva. Botanists call it A. orientalist, but its native country seems as uncertain as that of the last.
The Naked Oat (A. nude), so called because its grain is loose in the husk, is found wild in many parts of Europe, and by some is thought to be a mere degeneration of the Common Oat. It is common in Austria, where it is cultivated for its grain, which is however small, and not much esteemed.
The Chinese Oat (A. Chinensis), is another species, the grain of which is loose in the husk. It is said to have been procured by the Russians from the north of China along with their tea. This species is the most productive of all the known kinds, every flower producing from three to five grains, which are large and of excellent quality. It is
however said to be difficult to harvest ou account of the grains not adhering to the husks, but being very easily shaken out.
Besides the species cultivated for the corn which they yield, there is another that deserves to be noticed on account of its remarkable hygrometrical action. This plant, the Animal Oat of gardeners, the A. sterilis of systematic writers, is something like the Common Oat when young; but when ripe its grains are inclosed in bard hairy brown husks, from the back of which rises a stout bent and twisted awn. Usually two such husks grow together, and separate from the stalk by a deep oblique scar. Taking the scar for the head of an insect, the husks with their long stiff brown hairs resemble its body, and the two bent awns represent its legs. In this state fishermen use a smaller but nearly allied species, called Havers (A. fatua) instead of artificial flies for catching trout. When the Animal Oat is ripe it falls out of its glumes, and in warm dry weather may be seen rolling and turning about on its long ungainly legs, as they twist up in conse quence of their hygrometrical quality. It necessarily advances as it turns over, because the long stiff hairs upon its body catch against every little projecting point on the surface of the soil and prevent its retreat. Nothing can be more curious than to see the path of a garden-walk covered with these things tumbling and sprawling about in different directions, until their awns are so twisted that they can twist no further. They then remain quiet till the dews fall, or they are moistened by a shower, when they rapidly untwist and ruu about with renewed activity, as if anxious to get out of the wet.