Avena nudibrevis — Edible Plant Database

What to Eat

Edible parts: Seeds, Cereal

Edible Parts: Seed Edible Uses: Coffee Seed - cooked. 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 hull is incompletely attached to the grain, yielding a naked seed easily upon threshing. The roasted seed is a coffee substitute.

Where to Find It

It is a temperate plant.

Britain, Europe, Mediterranean,

Countries: Andorra, Albania, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Belarus, Switzerland, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Algeria, Estonia, Egypt, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Iceland, Italy, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Libya, Morocco, Monaco, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Russia, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, San Marino, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine

How to Identify

A hardy annual oat reaching typical heights, flowering June to July with seeds ripening August to October. Wind-pollinated and hermaphroditic. Grows in light sandy, medium loamy, and heavy clay soils with preference for well-drained conditions, though tolerates heavy clay. Adapts to mildly acid, neutral, and basic soils. Requires full sun and tolerates both dry and moist conditions with good drought resistance.

How to Grow

We have very little information on this species, but it should be possible to grow it as a spring-sown annual in Britain, and might also succeed as an autumn-sown crop. A diploid species, it is of little commercial importance. There is some doubt in our minds about the name of this species. A. nuda brevis is mentioned in and one just might be a mis-spelling of the other. The following notes are based on the general needs of the genus. Succeeds in any moderately fertile soil in full sun. 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.

Propagation: Seed - sow in situ in early spring or in the autumn. Only just cover the seed. Germination should take place within 2 weeks.

Medicinal Uses

None known

Other Uses

Fibre Mulch Paper Thatching The straw has a wide range of uses such as for bio-mass, fibre, mulch, paper-making and thatching. Some caution is advised in its use as a mulch since oat straw can infest strawberries with stem and bulb eelworm. Special Uses

Wikipedia

Source ↗

A hardy annual oat reaching typical heights, flowering June to July with seeds ripening August to October. Wind-pollinated and hermaphroditic. Grows in light sandy, medium loamy, and heavy clay soils with preference for well-drained conditions, though tolerates heavy clay. Adapts to mildly acid, neutral, and basic soils. Requires full sun and tolerates both dry and moist conditions with good drought resistance.

Notes

There are about 25 Avena species.

References (2)

Plants for a Future, The Field, Penpol, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0NG, UK. http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/
Trudy Prikl. Bot. Selekc. 16:48, 176. 1926