Description: This introduced perennial grass is about 1½–4' tall, forming dense tufts of unbranched stems that are ascending to erect. Each stem has several alternate leaves along its length. The blades of these leaves are up to 1/3" and 12" long (or a little larger); they are medium green, hairless, and linear in shape. Short leaf blades are spreading to ascending, while long leaf blades are rather droopy. Individual blades are usually flat, but sometimes they roll up along the edges or become twisted. At the base, each blade is more broad than the sheath and is slightly auriculate (with ear-like lobes). The leaf sheaths are medium green, finely veined, and hairless. The ligules are quite short, while the nodes are swollen.
Each stem terminates in an elongated
panicle of spikelets up to 8" long. The hairless branches are longest toward
the bottom of the panicle and no more than 4" long (usually about one-half this
length). Before and after the blooming period, the branches are stiffly erect
or appressed against the central stalk of the inflorescence, but they spread
outward slightly during the period of bloom. Each branch of the panicle has 2
or more spikelets; these spikelets are not confined to the tips of these
branches, but also occur toward their bottoms near the central stalk. Each
spikelet is up to ½" long and somewhat flattened; it has 2 glumes at the
bottom and 5-11 fertile lemmas that are organized into 2 dense ranks. The 1st
glume is about 3 mm., the 2nd glume is about 4 mm. long, and each lemma is
about 6 mm. long. Both the glumes and lemmas are lanceolate and folded along
the middle. The upper margins of the lemmas are slightly membranous, which
become scarious and light tan with age. Each lemma has a floret with 3 pale
yellow stamens, 2 feathery white stigmas, and an ovary. The blooming period
usually occurs during mid- to late summer. Afterwards, the entire inflorescence
becomes light tan and nods at the top. The floret of each lemma produces a
single grain. The root system consists of a dense mass of fibrous roots and
short rhizomes. A dense colony of this grass will produce a coarse lumpy
sod.
Cultivation: The preference is
full to partial sunlight, moist to dry conditions, and a loam or clay-loam
soil. This introduced grass can invade lawns and withstands regular mowing. It
tolerates considerable trampling and hot dry weather during the summer to a
greater extent than Poa pratensis (Kentucky Bluegrass) and many other
turf grasses.
Range &
Habitat: Meadow Fescue occurs in every county of Illinois and is
quite common (see
Distribution
Map). It was introduced from Europe as a source of pasturage and hay for
farm animals, and it is still used for this purpose. Habitats include prairie
remnants, degraded meadows, woodland borders, thickets, lawns, vacant lots,
city parks, sunny fence rows, abandoned fields, pastures, grassy areas along
railroads and roadsides, grassy banks along bridges and highway overpasses,
banks of rivers and ditches, and waste areas. In spite of its aggressive nature
(or perhaps because of it), Meadow Fescue is often planted by state and local
highway departments as a source of grassy cover along roads and for erosion
control along the banks of bridges and rivers. However, running water often
erodes the soil underneath the root mass of Meadow Fescue, causing the entire
bank to collapse into the river or its floodplain. Sometimes Meadow Fescue
invades prairies, where it becomes a troublesome weed to
ecologists.
Faunal Associations:
Information about floral-faunal relationships for this common grass species is
surprisingly scant. The caterpillars of the skipper Atalopedes
campestris (Sachem) feed on the foliage of Festuca spp. (Fescue
Grasses). Horses, cattle, and other hoofed farm animals graze on the foliage of
Meadow Fescue and similar species. Meadow Fescue collapses into sprawling mats
of vegetation during the winter, which probably provides good cover for voles
and other small rodents.
Photographic
Location: A lawn in Urbana, Illinois. The plants in the upper
photograph are short because of repeated mowing. Some of the floral spikelets
in the lower photograph are blooming.
Comments: This is a coarse introduced grass. It is
very similar in appearance to the introduced Festuca arundinacea (Tall
Fescue), which used to be considered a variety of Meadow Fescue, rather than a
distinct species. Tall Fescue is a more robust grass that has 4-5 lemmas per
spikelet; each of its lemmas is about 8 mm. long. In contrast, Meadow Fescue
has more lemmas per spikelet (5-11) and its lemmas are shorter (about 6 mm.
long). Other Festuca spp. (Fescue Grasses) in Illinois are smaller
grasses with narrow leaf blades (2 mm. or less) and/or shorter lemmas (5 mm. or
less); unlike Meadow Fescue, some of these species have conspicuous awns. An
older scientific name of Meadow Fescue is Festuca
elatior.