Oat
Avena sativa
Botanical family: Poaceae
An annual cereal grown for its grains. In permaculture, especially precious as a green manure and winter ground cover. The flowering tops (oat straw) are traditionally used in an infusion as a remineraliser and a mild nervous support.
Full sun
Cool, all types
Fairly hardy annual: with durum wheat, one of the cereals that least withstand winter cold
Sown in autumn, protect over winter in your zone
Self-pollinating: each flower fertilises itself
One plant is enough for a crop
Role in permaculture
An annual cereal and an excellent green manure / winter ground cover: fast biomass, roots reputed to structure the soil, smothers weeds. Often sown in a mix with a legume (vetch). 'Oat straw' (the green tops) is also medicinal.
Good companions
Seasons & availability
Green tops (oat straw) in early summer; grain harvested in July, then kept dry all year.
Available: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.
Guidance for the oceanic / temperate climate; it may vary with your region, altitude, exposure and growing method.
Sources
- EMA (HMPC), « Assessment report on Avena sativa L., herba and Avena sativa L., fructus », 2008 (ema.europa.eu/en/medicines/herbal/avenae-herba)
- Livre Blanc Céréales (Wallonie), « Date de semis » (livre-blanc-cereales.be/thematiques/semis/date-de-semis/)
- DRAAF Bretagne (Agreste), « Les moissons d'été 2021 » (draaf.bretagne.agriculture.gouv.fr/IMG/pdf/10_moissons_ete_2021_cle07ae34.pdf)
- Plants For A Future, « Avena sativa » (pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Avena+sativa)
Nutritional & medicinal properties
For educational purposes. Not a substitute for medical advice. Effects depend on the form, the dose and personal context.
Precautions & contraindications
Under EU law, oats are listed among the cereals containing gluten (Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex II). According to Regulation (EU) No 828/2014, most people with gluten intolerance can eat oats without harm, an issue still under study, and common oats can be contaminated by wheat, rye or barley during harvesting, transport, storage or processing. Only oats specially produced to avoid this contamination, with no more than 20 mg/kg of gluten, can go into a food presented as 'gluten-free'. In case of coeliac disease or gluten intolerance, seek medical advice before eating oats, and then only choose oats presented as 'gluten-free'.
In the kitchen & the apothecary
Where to find oat in preparations: recipes and traditional herbal teas.
Family behaviour: Poaceae
In general, Poaceae structure and aerate the soil with their dense fibrous roots (maize, wheat, barley, rye, oats), and leave a precious straw for mulching. Hungry for nitrogen for the grain (especially maize), they make excellent winter green manures (rye, oats).
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Species & varieties
The best-known species and varieties in France.
Common varieties
Voices of peoples
Paraphrases attributed to their documented sources. Never an invented quote.
Pliny the Elder describing the peoples of Germania (Germaniae populi) · Roman Empire, Germania, 1st century AD
In the Natural History (book XVIII, chapter 44, devoted to the diseases of grain), Pliny the Elder ranks the oat among the degenerations of cereals, almost a disease of wheat or barley. He reports that the peoples of Germania nonetheless sow it and live only on its porridge: 'Germaniae populi serunt eam neque alia pulte vivunt'. What is attested here is the gaze of a Mediterranean agronomist on a plant he despises; the cultivation of the oat and its consumption as porridge north of the Alps, for their part, are consistent with archaeobotany. The qualification 'staple food of the Germani' therefore belongs to the Roman judgement as much as to observation.
Pline l'Ancien, Histoire naturelle, livre XVIII, chapitre 44 (Ier siècle apr. J.-C.) ; trad. John Bostock et H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library, chap. 44 (« the diseases of grain: the oat »).
An outside and hierarchising gaze: Pliny judges the oat from the Greco-Roman agronomic viewpoint, where wheat bread is the norm and porridge (puls) an archaism. The phrase 'food of the Germani' conveys a Roman cultural judgement, not a neutral description, not to be read as an essence of the Germanic peoples. The reported fact, oat grown and eaten as porridge north of the Alps, is compatible with the archaeobotanical data. The Latin text is given as transmitted, without claiming a single manuscript reading; no medicinal virtue is asserted here.
Key takeaways
- • Prefers full sun exposure.
- • Ideal soil: cool, all types.
- • Classic companion: Vetch.