Meadow fescue
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Pooideae
Genus: Festuca
Species:
F. pratensis
Binomial name
Festuca pratensis
Synonyms

Festuca pratensis, the meadow fescue,[1] is a perennial species of grass, which is often used as an ornamental grass in gardens, and is also an important forage crop.

It grows in meadows, roadsides, old pastures, and riversides on moist, rich soils, especially on loamy and heavy soils.

It is a tall, tufted grass similar to the tall fescue, F. arundinacea. F. pratensis differs by having only 2 spikelets on the smaller branch at the lowest panicle node and by having minute hairs on the auricles. It can hybridise with Lolium perenne and Lolium multiflorum.[2]

Description

It is a perennial bunchgrass, (i.e. grows in tufts), which grows 30–120 cm (12–47 in), flowering from June until August. The panicles are green to purplish. The spikelets have 5 to 14 flowers.

It has a short, blunt ligule compared to other grasses 1 mm high. The leaves are bright green and up to 4 mm across.[3]

References

  • Pink, A. (2004). Gardening for the Million. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.
  1. ↑ BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  2. ↑ Collins Pocket Gude Grasses, Sedges, Rushes & Ferns Of Britain and Northern Europe, 1995, 0 00 219136 9
  3. ↑ Grasses by C E Hubbard, 1978, published by Penguin books
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