oats: A genus of the digynia order, belonging to the triandra class of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 4th order, Graminae. The calyx has a double valve, and the awn on the back is contorted. The species are 13; six of them natives of Britain: viz. 1. The nuda, or naked oats. 2. The sativa, or bearded oat-grass. 3. The pratensis, or meadow oat-grass. 4. The pubescens, or rough oat-grass. 5. The elatior, or tall oat-grass. 6. The flavescens, or yellow oat-grass. It is remarkable, that the native place of the sativa, or common oat, cultivated in our fields, is almost totally unknown. Anson says, that he observed it growing wild or spontaneously in the island of Juan Fernandez. But a vague observation from an author of that kind is not to be depended on.—For the culture, See Agriculture, no 137.

Oats are an article of the materia medica. Gruels made from them have a kind of soft mucilaginous quality; by which they obtund acrimonious humours, and prove useful in inflammatory diseases, coughs, hoarseness, and exulcerations of the fauces.