Festuca arundinacea

Tall fescue, Tall Fescue

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Tall fescue is a naturalized perennial grass found in California's Central Valley and Western and Interior Ranges in disturbed places at elevations generally below 1,000 meters. Flowering from May to June, this robust grass produces small spikelets with flowers that are often tinged purple. Growing with tall stems 80 to 200 centimeters high, it develops prominent nodes and can form loose clusters with spreading branches. Its leaves are flat or loosely rolled, 25 to 70 centimeters long and 4 to 10 millimeters wide, with hairy blades and small clasping basal auricles. The grass forms dense clumps and can spread through rhizomes in disturbed habitats.

Habitat: Disturbed places

Bloom period: May-Jun

Elevation: < 2700 (generally < 1000) m

Bioregions: CA-FP, W&ampI

California counties: Inyo, Los Angeles, San Diego, Kern, Sonoma, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Ventura, Amador, El Dorado, Placer, Orange, Nevada, San Mateo, Santa Cruz, San Joaquin, Sacramento, Santa Clara, Alameda, Marin, Monterey, Contra Costa, Lake, Butte, Shasta, Trinity, Plumas, Mendocino, Tehama, Colusa, Sierra, Siskiyou, Stanislaus, San Benito, Napa, Humboldt, Del Norte, Tulare, Mono, Tuolumne, Yolo, Mariposa

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.