"The country of origin of oats is more difficult to localise than that of either wheat or barley. There is considerable evidence that wild forms of the genus were prevalent in South and South-East Europe and along the littoral of from early times. The plant in those regions and periods, however, was cultivated almost exclusively for use as , and it may be for this reason that representations of the grain, so frequently found on coins of the period in the case of wheat and barley, are so rare or entirely absent in the case of oats. ... states that the and did not cultivate oats and that there is no Sanskrit name or any name in modern for the genus."