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Lolium arundinaceum
Also called Reed Fescue, Tall Ryegrass, Alta Fescue, English Blue Grass, Kentucky Fescue, New Zealand Tall Fescue, Reeed Fescue
Tall fescue is a long-lived, cool-season perennial grass grown for lawns, pasture and soil erosion control. It thrives with deep, infrequent watering and tolerates heat better than most cool-season grasses.
Lolium arundinaceum, commonly known as tall fescue, is a cool-season, perennial C3 grass species native to Europe and introduced to North America and other parts of the world. It naturally occurs in grasslands and coastal marshes. Tall fescue is grown in a range of cultivars, widely used for livestock forage, in lawns and recreational areas as turf, and occasionally for managing soil erosion.
Most publications have used the names Festuca arundinacea or, more recently, Schedonorus arundinaceus for this species, but DNA studies appear to have settled a long debate that it should be included within the genus Lolium instead.
Tall fescue is native to Europe, West Asia and North Africa. It was introduced to North and South America, Australia and Southeast Asia. It is widespread in the United States. Occurs in fields, meadows, waste areas and pastures. The cultivated species has become a common sight in California grasslands and habitats, such as the California coastal prairie plant community, since its introduction this species has been a topic of debate.
Tall fescue was introduced into the United States in the late 19th century, but it did not establish itself as a widely used perennial forage until the 1940s. As in Europe, tall fescue has become an important, well-adapted cool season forage grass for agriculture in the US with many cultivars. In addition to forage, it has become an important grass for turf and soil conservation. Tall fescue is the most heat tolerant of the major cool season grasses. Tall fescue has a deep root system compared to other cool season grasses. This non-native grass is well adapted to the "transition zone" Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States and now occupies over 35,000,000 acres (140,000 km2). In addition to serving as forage and turf grass, tall fescue is sometimes planted to stabilize soil, benefiting from its robust root network and adaptability to different environments.
Rye Grass · Italian Rye Grass · Perennial ryegrass · Wimmera ryegrass · Darnel ryegrass
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lolium arundinaceum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
