Tall Fescues - introduced (*Festuca arundinacea)

Native to Europe, north Africa and western Asia. Perennial. C3.

Family. Poaceae (Grass family).

Other names: Tall Meadow Grass.

Identification:

• it is a tall (to 1.5m), usually slender grass
• the branched flower cluster is narrow
• the glumes are shorter than the lemmas
• the spikelets have about six shortly-awned lemmas
• the leaf blades are flat
• the ligules are membranous and 0.5-2mm long.

Tall Fescue differs from Meadow Fescue (F. pratensis ) in that the shortest of the two branches of the flower cluster has 4 or more spikelets, compared to Meadow Fescue with 1-3 spikelets.

It is an environmental weed.

festuca: : stalk or straw; arundinacea: rush or reed like, a tall grass.

---