Seeds. Photo: Keir Morse, California, USA

Seeds. Photo: Luigi Rignanese, Italy

Seeding plants. Photo: Steven Thorsted, California, USA

Field. Photo: Luigi Rignanese, Italy

Common Name

Bearded Oats, Bearded Oat

Family

Poaceae

Notes

Introduced annual grass to 1.4m tall, occasionally prostrate. Leaves with a hairy sheath at the base. Ligule a membrane without a fringe of hairs. Leaf blades flat, 6-30cm long, 2-20mm wide, hairless or hairy, with a pointed tip. Spikelets green, 16-30mm long excluding the awns. Mature seed groups spreading. Seeds with one long awn and 2 shorter bristles, in 2s or 3s. 

Notes on the differences betwenn Avena barbata and Avena fatua in GM Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and JH Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales page 62

Short description (page 62) and line drawing of seed (Fig. 9a page 63) in GM Cunningham, WE Mulham, PL Milthorpe and JH Leigh (1981 and later printings) Plants of Western New South Wales

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Avena~barbata

ausgrass2 description with photos:  http://ausgrass2.myspecies.info/content/avena-barbata