General:
Annual grass from fibrous roots; stems hollow, up to 80 cm tall.

Leaves:
Sheaths open; blades 3-10 (15) mm wide, rough and often more or less soft-hairy; ligules (1) 3-6 mm long, membranous, short-hairy, rounded to pointed, the margins jagged and fringed with small hairs.

Flowers:
Inflorescence a large, open panicle, the branches pendulous; spikelets usually with 3 florets, in addition to the rudiments tipping the prolonged rachilla, the lower 2 florets with much twisted, strongly bent awns up to 4 cm long; glumes 20-25 mm long, more or less equal, both usually surpassing the florets; lemmas hardened at the base, the nerves obscure, usually stiff-hairy or nearly smooth, the upper portions greenish and plainly ribbed, the tips thin and membranous and sharply bilobed for about 1 mm, the calluses densely bearded; rachilla readily disarticulating between the florets, strongly bearded or sometimes nearly smooth; anthers 4-5 mm long; lodicules nearly 2 mm long.

Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

If more than one illustration is available for a species (e.g., separate illustrations were provided for two subspecies) then links to the separate images will be provided below. Note that individual subspecies or varietal illustrations are not always available.

Illustration Source:  The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia

Flower Colour:
Yellow

Blooming Period:
Mid Spring

Fruit/Seed characteristics:
Colour: Brown
Present over the Spring

Source:  The USDA

Synonyms and Alternate Names:
Avena fatua var. glabrata Peterm.
Avena fatua var. vilis (Wallr.) Hausskn.
Avena hybrida Peterm. ex Rchb.