Festuca pratensis Huds.

Graminae

Synonyms

Festuca elatior L. subsp. pratensis (Huds.) Hack, F. elatior auct. non L.

Common names

Meadow-fescue (English), Fétuque des prés (French), Wiesen schwingel (German).

Description

Perennial plant, robust, hairless, cespitous. Stems erect, 50 - 80 (- 120) cm high. Blade rolled when young, large (2 - 5 mm) (narrower than F. arundinacea, but wider than Lolium perenne), with at least 16 distinct veins on the upper part (less than 16 veins for Lolium multiflorum), shiny on the inferior part. Sheaths of inferior leaves purple red. Ligule short. Auricles well developped. Panicle-like inflorescence, spreading during flowering, contracted afterwards, long. Spikelets 5 - 11 - flowered. The weight of 1000 seeds is 1.7 to 2.1 g (average seeds). Chromosome number: 2n = 14 (diploid). Physiological peculiarities: Hybridizes with Lolium perenne: x Festulolium loliaceum and Lolium multiflorum: x Festulolium braunii.

Temperature

Large climate range. Well adapted to continental climates where it is a certain alternative to perennial ryegrass. Resists very well to cold. Quite heat resistant, but less than Festuca arundinacea or Dactylis glomerata.

Water

Tolerates a certain temporary drought.

Soil

Optimum on normally drained to wet soils. Tolerates drenched soils in winter and a certain drought in summer. Is thus adapted to water regime fluctuations. Often abundant in wide alluvial valleys. Large range for nutrient availability but absent from very poor soils (mesotrophic to euthropic species). Optimum on slighlty acid to neutral soils but frequent also on alcaline soils. Broadly indifferent to soil texture. Well represented on clay soils of the big valleys. Can be abundant on peat soils.

Distribution

Native to Europe and West Asia. From the lowlands to alpine levels in mountain areas.