Meadow Fescue (Lolium pratense (Huds.) Darbysh.)
Also known as meadow ryegrass; also classified as Schedonorus pratensis (Huds.) P. Beauv., Festuca pratensis Huds.
This and related taxa have been subject to considerable flux. In the past, this taxon has sometimes been treated as a variety of Festuca elatior L., specifically as Festuca elatior var. pratensis (Huds.) Gillet & Magne. We follow POWO's treatment, which instead lumps it in with this species. The bulk of Festuca elatior has instead been merged into tall fescue (Lolium arundinaceum). The genus Schedonorus is no longer recognized, following 2009 genetic analysis demonstrating that Schedonorus was not monophyletic.
↑Range - Expand
Legend | Color |
Introduced | |
Introduced or Not Present |
This tentative map is based on our own research. It may have limited data on Canada and/or Mexico, and there is some subjectivity in our assignment of plants as introduced vs. expanded. Read more in this blog post.
↑Related Plants
This species is closely related to perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and naturally hybridizes with it to form Lolium × elongatum (Ehrh.) Banfi, Galasso, Foggi, Kopecký & Ardenghi.
↑Links & External Resources
• Meadow Fescue | Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) (About This Site)
• Schedonorus pratensis (meadow fescue) | USDA PLANTS Database (About This Site)
• Schedonorus pratensis | Go Botany (About This Site)
• Schedonorus pratensis | Biota of North America Project (BONAP) (About This Site)
• Schedonorus pratensis | NatureServe Explorer (About This Site)
• Schedonorus pratensis | Flora of North America (About This Site)
• Festuca pratensis (Meadow Fescue) | Illinois Wildflowers (About This Site)
• meadow fescue | CABI Invasive Species Compendium (About This Site)
• Meadow Ryegrass | Maryland Biodiversity Project (About This Site)
• Lolium pratense (Huds.) Darbysh. (Meadow Fescue) | Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora (About This Site)