BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Festuca arundinacea | Tall Fescue 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Tall fescue is a densely cespitose to short-rhizomatous [20,28,65],
cool-season [75], long-lived [65] perennial grass [77].  Culms are
hollow [30], erect [28], and 20 to 80 inches (50-200 cm) in height
[30,76].  Leaves form basal tufts [61]; blades are 2 to 28 inches (5-70
cm) long [28,48] and 0.1 to 0.5 inch (3-13 mm) wide [61,76].  A tuft
produces 10 to 30 flowerstalks [66].  The inflorescence is an open to
narrow branched panicle [28,66] 4 to 14 inches (10-35 cm) long [31,57].
Spikelets are three- to nine-flowered [31,75].  Lemmas are awnless to
short-awned.  The fruit is a caryopsis [28].  Tall fescue roots are
tough and coarse; they normally penetrate to a depth of at least 60
inches (150 cm) in moist soils [65].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Tall fescue reproduces by seed and increases vegetatively [16].  It
spreads primarily by seed to form dense, solid stands.  The seed is
often spread in animal manure [7].  Viable tall fescue seeds were found
in the seedbank on revegetated roadside embankments in northern Kentucky
[45].

Tall fescue spreads slowly by short rhizomes [20] and by tillering.
Tall fescue produces more tillers after a cold winter.  Nitrogen
fertilization also increases tillering.  If nutrition is adequate
cessation of tillering is caused by self-shading of tiller buds.  Tall
fescue self-thins by this process.  Cut tall fescue produces new tillers
from the root crown [63].

Tall fescue endophytic fungus is maternally transmitted to the seed.
The fungus can survive in stored seed for about a year.  Infected tall
fescue seeds have more rapid germination rates in some environments than
do uninfected seeds, and infected seeds produce seedlings with greater
biomass that are more likely to survive.  Infected plants have been
shown to be capable of higher seed production than uninfected plants
[5].

Tall fescue seeds germinate within 14 days after prechilling [75].  In a
germination test of tall fescue seeds, emergence was 93 percent in the
year grown.  The same seed lot stored in cool, dry conditions for 19
years had 4.5 percent emergence [36].  In another study tall fescue
seeds had emergence of more than 80 percent at 54 to 75 degrees
Fahrenheit (12-24 deg C).  Emergence was less than 35 percent at 37 to
43 degrees Fahrenheit (3-6 deg C).  Although the number of days to first
emergence was increased and germination percentage decreased by low
temperatures, when temperatures were then raised the final emergence
percentage was 80 percent.  Maximum emergence was from sowing depths of
0 to 1.2 inches (0-30 mm) and decreased with increasing sowing depth
[10].

Tall fescue requires one growing season to establish [9,65].  Because of
slow establishment tall fescue is sensitive to competition from other
plants during early development [9].

When tall fescue stands become sod-bound seed production declines [77].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Tall fescue is cultivated for pasture, from which it often escapes [66].
It occurs in grazed woods [7], along roads, ditches [28], and railroad
tracks, in fallow and abandoned fields, [7,33], meadows [32], and
marshes [22].  It is a weed of cultivated areas [76] and is found in
moist, disturbed places [17,18,47,78].

Tall fescue is mesic in its moisture requirements.  It is tolerant of
poor drainage, winter flooding, and fairly high water tables.  It has
fair drought tolerance [75]. 

Tall fescue grows best on deep, fertile, silty to clayey loam soils but
with adequate moisture it is tolerant of most soil textures [75].  Tall
fescue seeds have low establishment in crusted soils; seedlings emerge
only through soft soil crusts.  However, tall fescue seeds germinate
well and produce good forage on high saline-sodic soils as long as soils
are not crusted [25].  Although tall fescue responds well to high
fertility, it persists satisfactorily on infertile soils and in
difficult environments if not overgrazed [77].  Tall fescue is salt
tolerant and does well on heavy alkaline soils [61,76.77].  It grows at
a wide range of pH.  In south-central Missouri tall fescue grows on silt
loam with pH 5.1 to 5.5 [15].  In western South Dakota it grows on
calcareous clay with pH 7.7 [37].  Tall fescue can withstand pH values
as low as 3.6 [56], but pH 4.5 is considered its lower growth limit
[73].  Best growth is obtained at pH 6.2 [56].

Tall fescue is adapted to a wide range of climatic conditions [65].  In
the northern and mountainous West, tall fescue produces good growth in
areas with over 18 inches (457 mm) mean annual precipitation; optimal
growth in the East occurs in areas with over 30 inches (762 mm) mean
annual precipitation.  Tall fescue demonstrates good cold tolerance,
making fair winter growth in southern Missouri and and the mid-South
[75].

Tall fescue is reported at the following elevations:

                          Feet            Meters

     California          <8,859           <2,700      [31]
     Colorado          4,800-8,700      1,463-2,652   [16]
     Oregon              443-1,657        135-  505   [64]
     Utah              4,200-6,004      1,280-1,830   [16,76]


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Tall fescue is a long-lived, aggressive perennial [7].  Tall fescue
competitive ability and persistence is increased by the allelopathic
compounds it produces [14].  It colonizes bare soil, and is a strong
competitor in many species mixtures [34,35].  Tall fescue can invade
open, natural communities and displace native species.  It spreads
slowly vegetatively, but once the heavy clumps of tall fescue develop
they are difficult to eradicate [7].

Tall fescue grows best in open sunlight [7] but is somewhat suppressed
by shade [75].  Tall fescue grew within and adjacent to staghorn sumac
(Rhus typhina) colonies on revegetated roadside embankments in northern
Kentucky.  Both areas were dominated by tall fescue, but inside the
colonies tall fescue was less prominent [45].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Tall fescue grows best under relatively cool conditions [65].  However,
growth rate was found to decline as temperatures decreased from the
optimal alternate 12-hour day/night temperatures of 75/66 degrees
Fahrenheit (24/19 deg C) to 59/50 degrees Fahrenheit (15/10 deg C) [1].
In the South tall fescue grows in the spring, fall, and winter.  At
higher latitudes it grows mostly in the spring and fall.  Where summers
are hot, tall fescue remains green but growth slows or stops [29].
During the hot, dry Corn Belt summers, tall fescue is dormant [27].  At
high altitudes tall fescue grows in the summer [75].  Well established
tall fescue withstands low winter temperatures in most of the United
States [77].

Tall fescue flowering times are:

         California       May-June          [48]
         Colorado         May-July          [16]
         Florida          April-May         [12]
         Illinois         May-August        [47]
         Montana          July-August       [16]
         Wyoming          May-July          [16]
         Great Plains     May-October       [28]

Tall fescue seeds ripen before leaves lose their moisture and green
color [77].  In the Great Plains tall fescue seeds mature in late summer
[4].  Seeds shatter as soon as they mature [59].

Related categories for Species: Festuca arundinacea | Tall Fescue