Festuca rubra

Red fescue

Family: Poaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Red fescue is a California native perennial found in northwestern California, the Cascade Range, northern and central Sierra Nevada, central western California, Transverse Ranges, and White and Inyo Mountains in sand dunes, grasslands, and subalpine forests at elevations generally below 2,500 meters. Flowering from May to July, this plant produces small, delicate flower clusters in open, branching arrangements approximately 5 to 20 centimeters long. Growing in clumped formations with decumbent bases and stems 30 to 80 centimeters tall, it spreads through short rhizomes that help it colonize diverse habitats. Its narrow leaves are less than 3 millimeters wide, typically folded, and grow 5 to 30 centimeters long with reddish sheaths that shred with age. The flower spikelets are 9 to 12 millimeters long, containing 3 to 10 florets with small awns less than 4 millimeters in length.

Habitat: Sand dunes, grassland, subalpine forest

Bloom period: May-Jul

Elevation: generally < 2500 m

Bioregions: NW, CaR, n&ampc SN, CW, TR, W&ampI

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

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