Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Synonyms Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Avena barbata Pott ex Link

Synonyms

Avena alba Vahl. (misapplied)
Avena fatua L. var. barbata (Pott ex Link) Fiori & Paoletti
Avena sterilis L. subsp. barbata (Pott ex Link) Gillet ex Magne

Family

Gramineae (South Australia)
Poaceae (Queensland, New South Wales, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory)

Common Names

barbed oat, bearded oat, bearded oats, slender oat, slender wild oat

Origin

Native to northern Africa, the Azores, the Madeira Islands, the Canary Islands, Europe, the Arabian Peninsula, western Asia and the Indian Sub-continent.

Naturalised Distribution

Widely naturalised in southern Australia (i.e. throughout New South Wales, Victoria, the ACT and Tasmania, in many parts of South Australia and in southern and western Western Australia). Also naturalised on Lord Howe Island and in many other parts of the world.

Notes

Bearded oat (Avena barbata) is a common weed of roadsides, disturbed sites, waste areas, gardens and pastures and is only rarely found in crops. It is also a weed of disturbed and undisturbed natural vegetation (e.g. open woodlands, shrublands, grasslands, riparian areas and wetlands) and is regarded as an environmental weed in Victoria and Western Australia. For example, this species is considered to be a serious threat to native vegetation communities in the Goulburn Broken Catchment in northern Victoria (e.g. invasion of this species is seen as a threat to grey box and buloke grassy woodlands) and it is a common weed of wetlands in the southern parts of Western Australia.

Bearded oat (Avena barbata) is also a weed of conservation areas in South Australia (e.g. Marino Conservation Park in Adelaide) and encroaches into sites populated by the critically endangered Whibley wattle (Acacia whibleyana). This species is endemic to the near-coastal region around Tumby Bay on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, and dense populations of weeds, including bearded oat (Avena barbata), have been found to significantly reduce seedling emergence and growth of this rare native plant.