| 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 | |
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]
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]
This species was originally included within the genus Festuca, owing to the similarity of the flowers and inflorescences. However, there has been much debate since 1898 about its relationship to the genus Lolium, largely because of hybridization with Lolium perenne (species in separate genera are far less likely to form hybrids than those within the same genus).[4][5] Recent DNA studies have shown that it should indeed be considered a ryegrass (Lolium) rather than a fescue (Festuca) because these species are more closely related to each other, despite the fact that ryegrasses have inflorescences of spikes rather than racemes.[6][7]
