Changes

*Oat, oats, common oat (En). *Avoine, avoine cultivée (Fr). *Aveia, aveia-amarela (Po).

*Erect annual grass up to 2 m tall, with a fibrous root system; stems (culms) solitary or tufted, smooth or scabrous beneath the inflorescence. *Leaves alternate, simple; leaf sheath long and loose, rounded on the back; ligule blunt, membranous, 3–5 mm long; blade linear, flat, 10–45 cm × 0.3–1.5(–2) cm. *Inflorescence a terminal panicle 15–30(–40) cm long, loose and open or contracted. *Spikelet slender-stalked, pendulous, 1.5–3.5 cm long, usually 2–3-flowered, with the uppermost florets reduced, non-shattering; glumes almost equal, narrowly elliptical-oblong, sharply acute, several-veined; lemma 1–2.5 cm long, more or less truncate or minutely 2– 4-toothed, awn present or absent, glabrous or sparsely hairy around the awn insertion; palea slightly shorter than lemma; stamens 3; ovary superior, villous, with 2 laterally exserted stigmas. *Fruit a caryopsis (grain), 0.5–1 cm long, narrow, with nearly parallel sides, hairy, grooved lengthwise on the face, tightly enclosed by lemma and palea.