WildBristol.uk - Discovering Wildlife in Bristol

Widespread but local in the North and West. It is completely absent from much of the South and East. Most common in Scotland. Habitat includes: Moist soils of a moderate base status in places such as wooded valleys, rocky slopes, deciduous wood margins, stream-sides (especially on seepage lines), by waterfalls etc. Growing habit: Long-lived perennial. Height: Up to 1.5 m. Flowers: August. Other names include: Festuca altissima (old name), Mountain Fescue Grass, Wild Fescue.

Stace 4:

Drymochloa sylvatica (Pollich) Holub (Festuca altissima All.) - Wood Fescue.

Culms to 120(150)cm; leaves flat, 4-14mm wide; ligules 1-5mm; panicle more or less pendent; spikelets 5-8mm; lemmas 4-6mm, narrowly acute; 2n=14. Native; moist stony slopes and ravines in woods and copses; scattered in West & North Britain from South Wales to North mainland Scotland, East Sussex, very scattered in Ireland. The base of the culms characteristically bears persistent, short, pointed, leaf-less sheaths.

Useful Links:

Online Atlas of the British and Irish Flora

Flora of Northern Ireland

MAKAQues

The Ecology of Commanster

Pl@ntNet

Kew(as Festuca altissima)

GBIF(as Festuca altissima)

Euro+Med PlantBase

NBN