Festuca elata Seeds | Tall Fescue
LATIN NAME: Festuca elata
COMMON NAME: Tall Fescue
Plant Profile
Festuca elata is a coarse, deep-rooted bunchgrass, and it is the backbone of much of the world’s pasture and of a large share of its lawn seed. The leaves are broad, ribbed and rough at the edge, and they stay green further into winter than those of most grasses. The plant forms dense tufts rather than a smooth sward, and the flowering stems rise to a metre with a loose, nodding panicle.
The species is native to moist meadows in Europe and North Africa, and it has been sown everywhere that cattle are kept. It tolerates trampling, drought and poor drainage, and it establishes quickly, which is why it is used for sports fields, for roadside verges and for reclamation. The taxonomy is confused: the plant sold as Festuca elata is often F. arundinacea, and the two are treated as synonyms by many authors.
Science & Biotechnology
Tall fescue usually carries a fungal endophyte, Epichloë coenophiala, which lives between the cells of the leaf sheath and is passed to the seed. The fungus produces ergot alkaloids, chiefly ergovaline, that protect the grass from insects and from grazing, and that also cause fescue toxicosis in cattle: reduced weight gain, rough coat, poor milk yield and, in severe cases, gangrene of the extremities in hot weather.
The endophyte is the reason for the split between pasture and turf types. Turf breeders select for endophyte-infected seed because it resists insects; pasture breeders select for endophyte-free or for novel endophytes that do not produce ergovaline. A bag of seed should state which it is, and the difference matters to anyone grazing the result.
Uses & Benefits
The grass is sown for pasture, for hay and for silage, and it is one of the most widely planted forage grasses in temperate regions. It is used for sports fields and lawns where wear tolerance matters more than fine texture, and for stabilising roadsides and dams.
The seed is also used in low-input lawns and in amenity mixes for shade and for wet ground. In some districts the straw is used for thatching and for mulch, and the grass is cut for hay in mixtures with clover. In New Zealand and in Australia it is sown with white clover for summer pasture.
Growing from Seed
Sow in spring or early autumn at about thirty kilograms a hectare for pasture, or twenty grams a square metre for a lawn. Broadcast on a firm, moist seedbed and rake it in lightly; germination is in seven to fourteen days.
The grass tolerates a wide range of soils, from clay to sand, and it tolerates both drought and short flooding once established. It responds to nitrogen, but too much produces rank growth and lodging. For pasture, choose an endophyte-free or a novel-endophyte variety if animals will graze it, and check the label before buying.
Our Take
The most useful and the most troublesome grass in temperate farming, depending on which endophyte is in the bag. Read the label before you sow.
Related Reading
More species in the same orbit as Tall Fescue: