Avena sativa, the Common Oat, has a smooth stem, growing up to 4 feet high, with linear lanceolate, veined rough leaves; loose striate sheaves; stipules lacerate; panicle equal, loose; spikelets pedunculate, pendulous, twoflowered, both perfect, lower one mostly awned; paleae cartilaginous, embracing the caryopsis; root fibrous, annual. The Naked or Pilcorn Oat differs slightly from the other: calyces three-flowered, receptacle exceeding the calyx; petals awned at the back; the third floscule awnless; and the chief difference lies in the grains, which when ripe quit the husk and fall naked. The grains as found in commerce are enclosed in their pales and these grains divested of their paleae are used for medicinal and dietary purposes; the grains when separated from their integuments are termed groats, and these when crushed are called Embden groats. Oatmeal is ground grain.

Nervine, stimulant, antispasmodic.

Avena sativa
Plants for a Future
Herb Information
PIER
King's American Dispensatory
Avena

Alanine, alpha-tocopherol, arginine, beta-ionone, beta-sitosterol, betaine, caffeic acid, caryophyllene, choline, ferulic aid, folacin, hexanal, limonene, methionine, myrcene, p-coumaric acid, pyridoxine, quercetin, scopoletin, sinapic acid, stigmasterol, tryptophan, vanillic acid.

Is a mild nutritious aliment, of easy digestion in inflammatory cases and fevers; it is very useful after parturition, and is sometimes employed in poisoning from acid substances, as a demulcent enema and boiled into a thick paste makes a good emollient poultice.

Oats antagonize the antinociceptive effect of morphine and the pressor response to nicotine.