Index / Search / Avena sativa

§1 Plant — species · Poaceae

Avena sativa L.

vernacular common oat


USDA
AVSA
GBIF
2705290
Rank
species
common oat (Avena sativa)
Platephotograph · Larry SwiftCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Graminoid
Duration
Annual
Group
Monocot
Family
Poaceae Barnhart
Genus
Avena
§2a

Native status, by region

  • AK Alaska Introduced
  • CAN Canada Introduced
  • GL Greenland Introduced
  • HI Hawaii Introduced
  • L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
  • PR Puerto Rico Introduced
  • SPM St. Pierre & Miquelon Introduced

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
Low
Shade
High
Moisture use
Medium
Fire
None
Salinity
Medium
Anaerobic
Low
CaCO₃
Low
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-23 °F minimum
Frost-free days
90 min.
Precipitation
25–100 in/yr
pH range
5.3–8.5
Root depth
8 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Bunch
Growth rate
Rapid
Mature height
2 ft
Foliage texture
Fine
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Moderate
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
Yellow
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
None
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Late Spring
Seed abundance
High
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
None
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
19,400
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
Medium
Graze palatability
High
Palatable, human
Yes
Protein potential
Medium
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Montana distribution

Recorded in 5 of 56 Montana counties.


§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/AVSA ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2705290 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T16:28:53Z