Lolium arundinaceum subsp. arundinaceum
Common name
tall fescue
Synonyms
Schedonorus phoenix (Scop.) Holub [1998], Festuca arundinacea Schreb., Schedonorus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort.
Family
Poaceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Grasses
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
SCHARU
Conservation status
Not applicable
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Wetland plant indicator status rating
Information derived from the revised national wetland plant list prepared to assist councils in delineating and monitoring wetlands (Clarkson et al., 2021 Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Contract Report LC3975 for Hawke’s Bay Regional Council). The national plant list categorises plants by the extent to which they are found in wetlands and not ‘drylands’. The indicator status ratings are OBL (obligate wetland), FACW (facultative wetland), FAC (facultative), FACU (facultative upland), and UPL (obligate upland).
FAC: Facultative
Commonly occurs as either a hydrophyte or non-hydrophyte (non-wetlands).
Features
Tall, erect, strongly tufted, coarse, perennial grass. Leaves 100-600 x 3-12 mm, flat, mod ribbed, harsh, yellow-green, hairless except at leaf base, margins rough, glossy beneath. Leaf base stout, encircles stem with collar, hairy; sheath base occ brownish-purple; emerging leaf rolled. Ligule up to 2 mm long, membranous, firm, greenish. Seedhead an open panicle, 5-25 cm long; seeds large, clustered in coarse spikelets 10-20 mm long.
Similar taxa
Tall, erect, fairly harsh, perennial grass. Auricle with very short bristly hairs, that continue along the margins at the base of the leaf blade. Otherwise the plant is glabrous. Hybrids are produced with both Lolium perenne and L. multiflorum. Lolium species are lush grasses and do not have hairy auricles.
Flower colours
Green
Life cycle
Perennial.
Year naturalised
1871
Origin
Europe
Reason for introduction
Agricultural