Lolium pratense

Meadow fescue
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Poaceae
Genus:	Festuca
Species:	F. pratensis
Binomial name
	Festuca pratensis; Huds.
Synonyms
	Bucetum pratense (Huds.) Parn.; Bromus pratensis (Huds.) Spreng.; Festuca elatior L. subsp. pratensis (Huds.) Hack.; Festuca fluitans L. var. pratensis (Huds.) Huds.; Lolium pratense (Huds.) Darbysh.; Schedonorus pratensis (Huds.) P.Beauv.); Tragus pratensis (Huds.) Panz. ex B.D.Jacks.;

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, Festuca arundinacea. Tall fescue differs 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]

Photos

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". Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-01-25. Retrieved 2014-10-17. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ 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

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[BSBI07-1] "BSBI List 2007". Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-01-25. Retrieved 2014-10-17. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[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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