Festuca pratensis
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.
| Meadow fescue | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific 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 | |
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]
Gallery
Festuca pratensis
The base of the leaf
Festuca pratensis
Festuca pratensis
References
- Pink, A. (2004). Gardening for the Million. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.
- BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
- Collins Pocket Gude Grasses, Sedges, Rushes & Ferns Of Britain and Northern Europe, 1995, 0 00 219136 9
- Grasses by C E Hubbard, 1978, published by Penguin books
External links
Media related to Festuca pratensis at Wikimedia Commons- "Festuca pratensis". Plants for a Future.
- "Festuca pratensis". Calflora. Berkeley, California: The Calflora Database.
- Festuca pratensis in the CalPhotos photo database, University of California, Berkeley