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Sheep Fescue

Sheep Fescue

Festuca ovina

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How common: Very common

Sheep fescue is a small, dense clump-forming grass with very fine, wiry leaves. It is a tough plant of dry, open places on sandy or rocky ground and along paths and roadsides. Its narrow flower clusters appear in early to mid-summer.

Did you know?

  • Its tight clumps often turn pale straw and can remain standing through winter.
  • The leaves are as thin as thread (under 1 mm), giving the plant its wiry look.

About the species

Identification

Forms tight, cushion-like tussocks 15–40 cm tall with no creeping runners. Stems upright, smooth and slender. Leaves are very fine, stiff and thread-thin (about half a millimetre), shorter than the stems, and dull grey‑green. The flower cluster is a narrow, 3–5 cm spray near the top, with short, slightly spreading side branches bearing small green to reddish heads; each tiny flower ends in a short bristle. After flowering the clumps often bleach straw‑pale. Red fescue is looser, with flatter, softer leaves and often creeping stems. Viviparous fescue carries tiny plantlets in the flower cluster. Flowers in Finland in June–July.

Plant group

Grasses, sedges and rushes

Habitat

meadow

Flowering

Jun–Jul

About the habitat

Found in dry grasslands and heaths, open woods, and on rocky or sandy soils; also in clearings, along paths and road edges. Common throughout the country.

Sources

Photo: Joe Dillon, CC BY 4.0 https://www.gbif.org/occurrence/6133292162

Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Metsät: kuivahkot kankaat, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40445

Text: Pinkka: BIO-503 Suomen kasvisto ja kasvillisuus - Tunturit: tunturikoivikot, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.40445

Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lampaannata

See also