Avena sterilis, Animated oat, Sterile oat, Wild oat,
Wild red oat, Winter wild oat,
Hebrew: שיבולת-שועל נפוצה, Arabic: شوفان بري
Scientific name:  Avena sterilis L.
Synonym name:  Avena affinis Bernh. ex Steud; Avena algeriensis Trab.; Avena byzantina K.Koch;
Avena ludoviciana Durieu, Avena sativa
Common name:  Animated oat, Sterile oat, Wild oat, Wild red oat, Winter wild oat
Hebrew name:   שיבולת-שועל נפוצה
Arabic name:  شوفان بري
Family:   Graminea (Poaceae), Grass Family, משפחת הדגניים

Avena sterilis, Animated oat, Sterile oat, Wild oat, Wild red oat, Winter wild oat, שיבולת-שועל נפוצה, شوفان بري

Life form:  Annual
Stems:  30-120 cm, initially prostrate, erect
Leaves:  Alternate, entire
Inflorescence:  Panicles 10-45 cm long, 5-25 cm wide; Spikelets 24-50 mm, with 2-5 florets
Flowers:  Green and nodding panicle, flowers connate and falling as one unit at maturity; Lemmas 25-40 mm long, hirsute with a geniculate awn 4-9 cm long; floret with bearded callus
Fruits / pods:  Caryopsis
Flowering Period:   March, April, May
Habitat:   Batha, Phrygana
Distribution:  Mediterranean Woodlands and Shrublands, Semi-steppe shrublands, Shrub-steppes, Deserts and extreme deserts, Montane vegetation of Mt. Hermon
Chorotype:   Med - Irano-Turanian
Summer shedding:  Ephemeral

Israel, send flowers online


Derivation of the botanical name:
Avena, Latin for oats.
sterilis, sterilized.
affinis, related or similar to; neighbouring, allied to, akin to.
algeriensis, Algerian.
byzantina, Istanbul, classically Byzantium.
ludoviciana, Louisiana or former Louisiana Territory, U.S.A.
sativa, sown, planted, cultivated.
The Hebrew word: שיבולת-שועל, shibolet-shual, oats, from Aramaic: שבלתא, shibalta.
Oats are mentioned in the Mishnah Kil'ayim, משנה כלאים א׳:א׳.
  • The standard author abbreviation L. is used to indicate Carl Linnaeus (1707 – 1778), a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, the father of modern taxonomy.
  • The standard author abbreviation Bernh. is used to indicate Johann Jacob Bernhardi (1774–1850), a German professor of botany.
  • The standard author abbreviation Steud. is used to indicate Ernst Gottlieb von Steudel (1783–1856), a German physician and an authority on grasses.
  • The standard author abbreviation K.Koch is used to indicate Karl Heinrich Emil Koch (1809–1879), a German botanist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Durieu is used to indicate Michel Charles Durieu de Maisonneuve (1796–1878), a French soldier and botanist.

The morphological differences between Avena sterilis, שיבולת-שועל נפוצה and Avena fatua, שיבולת-שועל שוטה:

Character Avena sterilis Avena fatua
disarticulation above glumes, below basal floret only; florets may be found as attached pairs above glumes and between florets; florets almost always found singly
florets per spikelet 2-5 2-3
awn length 3-8 cm 3-4 cm
awn attachment below middle of floret above middle of floret
floret length in general longer and wider than A. fatua, 15-40 mm (usually 20-25 mm) in general shorter than A. sterilis, 14-20 mm
rachilla tip shape flare-shaped (secondary and tertiary florets only) rounded-triangular, diamond-shaped (all florets)
basal scar shape elongated, scoop-shaped, longer than A. fatua (basal floret only); other florets fractured horseshoe-shaped, sucker-mouthed (all florets)
callus hairs to 7.5 mm long to 5.5 mm long
caryopsis shape oblong long, narrow, depression towards tip (caused by awn) on embryo side



Native plants of Israel