This paper describes and evaluates the results of a scanning electron microscopic study of the sculpture of the surfaces of caryopses, glumes, lemmas, awn columns, and awn subules of Avena fatua, normal cultivated oats (A. sativa), fatuoids, and F1 hybrids A. fatua × sativa. Only qualitative differences were sought, and none were detected in the glumes and on the caryopses. The prickles on the lemmas, on the awn columns, and on the awn subules all appear in two character states. In the case of the lemmas one state is found in the normal cultivated oats, fatuoids, and F1 hybrids, and the other in A. fatua. On the other hand in the awn subules one state is found in the normal cultivated oats and the other in fatuoids, F1 hybrids, and A. fatua, while in the awn columns one state occurs in cultivated oats and the other in A. fatua, but in the F1 hybrids and fatuoids both states occur. These findings provide taxonomic evidence additional to that described earlier based on lodicules coupled with traditional characters.