🪴 GoDeep
Search
← University Challenge
Portrait of Sheep's fescue

Nature · Ferns, grasses & other plants

Sheep's fescue

Native · densely tufted perennial grass · acid and chalk grassland, heath and mountain

Festuca ovina — Poaceae

Sheep's fescue is the fine, wiry, blue-grey grass that makes the close-cropped turf of chalk downs, acid heaths and upland pastures, the grass that flocks of sheep actually graze on high ground. It is native, common and listed as Least Concern, and it is one of the predominant constituents of pastures across great swathes of upland Britain. Its bristle-fine leaves and tight tufts distinguish it from the broader-leaved grasses of richer ground.

How to spot them

  • ▸Very narrow, bristle-like, folded or rolled leaves, often blue-grey, in dense, hard little tufts
  • ▸Compact, narrow, one-sided flower head of a few purplish or green spikelets on a slender stem
  • ▸No creeping stems: the plant makes discrete tussocks, unlike red fescue that spreads by rhizomes
  • ▸Thin, poor, well-drained soils: chalk downland, dry heath, rocky slopes, sea cliffs and spoil heaps
  • ▸Look-alikes: red fescue (creeping, coarser, often on richer or coastal ground) and other fine-leaved fescues; separation of the sheep's-fescue group is technical and best done with a hand lens

How to know it

A blue-grey, bristle-leaved, tussocky grass whose fine leaves make the short turf of hill pastures and downs

Sheep's fescue.

Some forms of this grass grow on spoil heaps contaminated with heavy metals in calaminarian grassland

Sheep's fescue — metal-tolerant forms.

Along with wild thyme it makes up much of the springy turf of upland limestone grassland

Sheep's fescue.

One of the grasses eaten by grayling caterpillars, along with red fescue and marram

Sheep's fescue.

Its Latin species name means 'of sheep'

Sheep's fescue — Festuca ovina.

Quick-fire facts

  • •Native to Great Britain, Ireland and the Channel Islands; assessed as Least Concern, according to the BSBI
  • •Occurs from lowland to about 1,305 m, on calcareous and acid grassland, dry heath, rocky ledges and sea cliffs
  • •One of the predominant constituents of pastures across upland Britain and Ireland (BSBI)
  • •Three subspecies are recognised in Britain and Ireland: subsp. ovina, hirtula and ophioliticola
  • •Metal-tolerant forms occur on old mining spoil in calaminarian grassland (Wildlife Trusts)
  • •Grayling caterpillars feed on sheep's-fescue, red fescue and marram grass
  • •Fescue is from the Latin festuca, a stalk or straw

Drill it — 5 cards

1 / 5new card

Sources