Common oat

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Common oat
Common oat (Arrhenatherum elatius)

Common oat ( Arrhenatherum elatius )

Systematics
Commelinids
Order : Sweet grass (Poales)
Family : Sweet grasses (Poaceae)
Subfamily : Pooideae
Genre : Arrhenatherum
Type : Common oat
Scientific name
Arrhenatherum elatius
( L. ) P.Beauv. ex J. Presl & C. Presl

The common oat ( Arrhenatherum elatius ), also known as French ryegrass , is a species of the genus Arrhenatherum within the sweet grass family (Poaceae).

description

illustration
Stem with leaf sheath and ligule
Panicle (detail)
Spikelets with husk (Glu), cover (Lem) and palea (Pal). The lemma of the lower male flower (Lem ') has a long dorsal awn.

The oat is a perennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of between 50 and 150 centimeters. It grows in loose clumps . The oat sprouts very early and strongly in spring. As a rule, it does not form runners, only rarely very short rhizomes . The roots are yellowish. The smooth, upright, possibly little spread stalks are quite strong with three to five knots . The leaf sheaths are rounded on the back, also smooth and sometimes sparsely hairy or just rough at the nodes.

In the subspecies Arrhenatherum elatius subsp. bulbosum , the nodes of the base of the stalk are thickened like an onion or rosary. The ligules are usually entire, sometimes fringed and about 1 to 3 millimeters long. The leaf blades are like the leaf sheaths strong green, 5 to 10 millimeters wide and up to 40 centimeters long. They are flat, narrowly pointed, very loosely haired or completely bald. They feel rough on the edge and on the surface.

The upright or slightly nodding, paniculate inflorescence is elongated-lanceolate with a length of up to 30 centimeters. It is loosely or a little closer together, glossy green or slightly purple. The rough panicle branches are unevenly long in clusters on the main axis. The two-flowered, rarely three- to four-flowered spikelets are elongated with 7 to 11 millimeter long stalks. The lower flower is purely male, the upper one is hermaphrodite. The glumes are membranous and acuminate; the lower one is one-nerved and significantly shorter than the upper three-nerved. The narrow-oval, pointed, seven-veined lemmas are 8 to 10 millimeters long and round on the back. The lower lemma is awned long. The awn is 10 to 16 millimeters long and about a third is fused with the lemma. The upper lemma is not awned, possibly provided with a short bristle near the tip. The palea have very finely hairy keels. The three dust bag (anthers) are 4 to 5 millimeters long. The main flowering time is from May to June; post-flowering plants can be found until September.

The fruits ( caryopses ) are hairy and covered by the lemma.

  • Spikelets with a hermaphrodite and a male flower

  • panicle

  • Ligule

ecology

The common oat is a hemicryptophyte , a clump grass and a deep root. Vegetative reproduction is possible through subterranean runners .

The common oat is strongly promoted by eutrophication . After heavy fertilization , as has become the rule, the originally existing smaller species are no longer competitive after 2 years. As a result, the oat contributes to a critical reduction in biodiversity . Despite its widespread distribution and frequency today, the common oat is not indigenous to Germany (or at most locally). Rather, it is a neophyte that only became naturalized in Germany at the beginning of modern times . In the 19th century this species was not yet widespread in Germany. Ultimately, our occurrences probably go back to sowing with French seeds (“French ryegrass”).

The common oat is a long-day plant with a main flowering period from May to June. It is self-sterile , is pollinated by the wind, is a strong hay fever pathogen and belongs to the "long-dust filamentous type".

The spreading unit ( diaspore ) is the caryopsis surrounded by cover and palea with an attached remnant of the male flower and the associated awn . Such units of expansion are called husks; they are specifically light due to the inclusion of air, which promotes the spread of wind . In addition, spreading occurs randomly through grazing cattle, Velcro spreading due to the awn and self-spreading by drilling the hygroscopic, corkscrew-like twisted awn into the ground. Fruit ripening takes place from June to September. The common oat is a light germ .

Occurrence

The common oat is widespread from Europe to Central Asia and Iran , in northwest Africa and Macaronesia from the lowlands to medium mountain ranges (up to an altitude of about 1650 meters). It is a neophyte in North America , Australia and New Zealand . In the Allgäu Alps , it rises in Vorarlberg on the Hochtannberg Pass to an altitude of 1675 meters.

The common oat is mostly widespread to common, but less common in Germany towards the north. It grows in hay meadows , on hedges and dams, on embankments and roadsides. The soils are moderately dry to fresh or alternately moist, rich in nutrients, often calcareous and sandy-loamy. The climatic focus is on warm, rain-poor locations, while rough and late frost-prone locations are avoided. Oats can only tolerate little shade. He is a character species of the Arrhenatheretum from the Arrhenatherion elatioris association. At higher altitudes it occurs in societies of the association Calamagrostion arundinaceae or in Rumicetum scutati of the association Stipion calamagrostis.

The common oat is the characteristic of the plant communities of the association of the oat meadows (Arrhenatherion elatioris) .

Systematics

The first publication took place in 1753 under the name ( Basionym ) Avena elatior by Carl von Linné .

A distinction is made between the following subspecies:

  • Arrhenatherum elatius subsp. bulbosum (Willd.) Schübl. & Martens (Syn .: Arrhenatherum elatius var. Bulbosum (Willd.) Spenn. ): It occurs from western and southern Europe to the Caucasus, in northwest Africa and Macaronesia. It has chromosome number 2n = 28. It thrives in societies of the Trifolion medii, Quercion roboris or the class Agropyretea.
  • Arrhenatherum elatius L. subsp. elatius (Syn .: Arrhenatherum elatius var. subhirsutum (Ash.) Buia ): It occurs from Europe to Central Asia and Iran and Morocco. It has chromosome number 2n = 14 or 28.
  • Arrhenatherum elatius subsp. sardoum (Em.Schmid) Gamisans : It occurs in Morocco, in southeastern Spain, in the Pyrenees, in southeastern France, in Sardinia and Corsica.

The scientific generic name Arrhenatherum is derived from the Greek words arrhén for male and athér , atéros for awn, which refers to the long awns of the male flowers. The specific epithet elatius is of Latin origin ( elatior means higher).

Common names

The German common name "French ryegrass" comes from the French origin of the seeds in the 19th century. "Raygrass" corresponds to the English ryegrass ("rye grass").

The following names are or were used as other German-language trivial names , sometimes only regionally: Bättligras ( Switzerland ), Glatthafer, Knöpfligras ( Bern ), Krallengras (Bern), Raygras (Switzerland), Zehligras (Bern), Zehliperle (Bern ) and Zötteleschwalm (Bern).

use

Oats are of economic importance as high-yield mowing grass for making hay . Cattle do not like to eat it as green fodder because it tastes bitter due to saponins . It does not withstand too frequent cuts and heavy grazing . For the sowing of meadows in somewhat dry locations, however, the smooth oat is indispensable, as hardly any other type of grass can cope with drought so well.

literature

  • WD Clayton, KT Harman, H. Williamson: World Grass Species: Descriptions, Identification, and Information Retrieval. 2002, data sheet , accessed December 29, 2006.
  • Henning Haeupler, Thomas Muer: picture atlas of the fern and flowering plants of Germany . Ed .: Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (=  The fern and flowering plants of Germany . Volume 2 ). Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2000, ISBN 3-8001-3364-4 .
  • Charles Edward Hubbard: Grasses. Description, distribution, use (=  UTB . Volume 233 ). 2nd, revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 1985, ISBN 3-8001-2537-4 (English: Grasses . Translated by Peter Boeker).
  • Ernst Klapp , Wilhelm Opitz von Boberfeld : Paperback of the grasses . Recognition and determination, location and socialization, evaluation and use. 12th revised edition. Paul Parey, Berlin / Hamburg 1990, ISBN 3-489-72710-X .
  • Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora . With the collaboration of Theo Müller. 7th, revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 1994, ISBN 3-8252-1828-7 .
  • Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany and neighboring countries. The most common Central European species in portrait . 7th, corrected and enlarged edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2011, ISBN 978-3-494-01424-1 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Rafaël Govaerts (Ed.): Arrhenatherum elatius. In: World Checklist of Selected Plant Families (WCSP) - The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved November 2, 2016.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . 8th edition. Stuttgart, Verlag Eugen Ulmer, 2001. ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 . Page 244.
  3. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 1, IHW, Eching 2001, ISBN 3-930167-50-6 , p. 169.
  4. ^ Georg August Pritzel , Carl Jessen : The German folk names of plants. New contribution to the German linguistic treasure. Philipp Cohen, Hannover 1882, page 52 f., Online.

Web links

Commons : common oat ( Arrhenatherum elatius )  - album with pictures, videos and audio files