Avena orientalis — 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, Chile, Europe, Iraq, Middle East, South America, Spain, Turkey, Türkiye,

Countries: Andorra, United Arab Emirates, Albania, Argentina, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brazil, Belarus, Switzerland, Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, French Guiana, Greece, Guyana, Croatia, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Iceland, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Monaco, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Oman, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Paraguay, Qatar, Romania, Serbia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, San Marino, Suriname, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yemen

How to Identify

A hardy annual oat flowering June to July with seeds maturing August to October. Wind-pollinated hermaphroditic plant. Tolerates light sandy, medium loamy, and heavy clay soils preferring well-drained conditions and heavy clay. Grows in mildly acid, neutral, and basic soils. Needs full sun and handles both dry and moist soil with drought tolerance.

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. Occasionally cultivated for its edible seed, especially in S.E. Europe, this species is considered to be no more than a part of A. sativa by many botanists. 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

Diuretic Emollient Refrigerant The seed is diuretic, emollient and refrigerant.

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 flowering June to July with seeds maturing August to October. Wind-pollinated hermaphroditic plant. Tolerates light sandy, medium loamy, and heavy clay soils preferring well-drained conditions and heavy clay. Grows in mildly acid, neutral, and basic soils. Needs full sun and handles both dry and moist soil with drought tolerance.

Notes

There are about 25 Avena species.

Names & Synonyms

A. sativa orientalis. Hook.f.

References (5)

Bircher, A. G. & Bircher, W. H., 2000, Encyclopedia of Fruit Trees and Edible Flowering Plants in Egypt and the Subtropics. AUC Press. p 49
Brouk, B., 1975, Plants Consumed by Man. Academic Press, London. p 26
Hedrick, U.P., 1919, (Ed.), Sturtevant's edible plants of the world. p 87
Plants for a Future database, The Field, Penpol, Lostwithiel, Cornwall, PL22 0NG, UK. http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/
Spic. fl. lips. 52. 1771