Morphological and physiological variation in wild oats (Avena fatua L. and A. ludoviciana Dur.) and in hybrids between wild and cultivated oats

In samples of wild-oat panicles collected in England and Wales in 1951 only two species, Avena fatua L. and Avena ludoviciana Dur., occurred; both were very variable in grain characters but most plants bred true. Plants of all except one type of A. fatua were upright in habit with few tillers and averaged 95% dormant grains at harvest; plants of A. ludoviciana were procumbent or prostrate at the maximum tillering stage with numerous tillers and the percentage dormant grains was lower than in A. fatua. The taxonomy of wild oats is discussed. Chromosome counts on eleven selections showed that 2 n = 42. Types intermediate between wild and cultivated oats were compared with wild oats.