Family: Poaceae
nodding fescue
[Festuca obtusa Biehler]
Christopher Noll
Christopher Noll
University of Wisconsin - Madison (WIS-VP)
Etymology: Festuca: ancient Latin name for some type of grass, obscure
Plants: perennial grass
Habitat: deciduous woods
Conservation Status: Native
Plants: perennial grass
Habitat: deciduous woods
Conservation Status: Native
Mesic to swampy, rich or disturbed, forests of sugar maple-walnut-hackberry, sugar maple-oak, oak-hickory, basswood-elm-maple, sugar maple-basswood, aspen-bur oak-white spruce, bur oak-black ash, sugar maple-yellow birch-hemlock, oak-pine, sugar maple-beech, sugar maple-white cedar, elm-basswood-box-elder, oak-basswood, swamp white oak-red maple, black ash-tamarack, birch-aspen, green ash-swamp white oak-black ash, elm-green ash, sugar maple-basswood-hickory, pine. Also sometimes in prairies, wet thickets, pine relics, and on wooded bluffs, outcrops, lakeshores, or talus slopes. This is a very pretty, native forest grass with shiny leaves and large, drooping inflorescences. Found throughout the state but mostly absent from the Central Sands.
Flora of North America: Flora of North America Floristic Rating: Coefficient of Conservatism = 4, Wetland Indicator = FACU+ USDA Plants Database: Federal Distribution and detailed information including photos Grasses of Iowa: Detailed photographs, descriptions, maps
Christopher Noll
Kitty Kohout
