Festuca octofloraWalter

sixweeks fescue

WFO wfo-0000871181 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Festuca octoflora, photographed by Cecelia Alexander
fig. a Cecelia Alexander, CC0 1.0 / 2022-06-12 / obs. 205641620
Festuca octoflora, photographed by Tim Messick
fig. b Tim Messick, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 194190199
Festuca octoflora, photographed by Trevor Van Loon
fig. c Trevor Van Loon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 186813876
Festuca octoflora, photographed by Sula Vanderplank
fig. d Sula Vanderplank, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 184363208
Festuca octoflora, photographed by Bobby McCabe
fig. e Bobby McCabe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 142028109
Festuca octoflora, photographed by Bobby McCabe
fig. f Bobby McCabe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 140297784
Festuca octoflora, photographed by Millie Basden
fig. g Millie Basden, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 124603043
Festuca octoflora, photographed by Matt Berger
fig. h Matt Berger, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 85665925

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
Smithsonian, US National Herbarium
Accession
US 949062
Filed as
Festuca octoflora Walter
Det. by
Poaceae Reorganization Project
Collected
F. V. Coville 1889-05-26
Origin
US
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC0 1.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 62 botanical countries

Regions where Festuca octoflora is native: Alabama, Alberta, Arizona, Arkansas, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexican Pacific Is., Mexico Northwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Québec, Rhode I., Saskatchewan, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Argentina South, Chile Central, Chile North AlabamaAlbertaArizonaArkansasBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineManitobaMarylandMassachusettsMexico NorthwestMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaQuébecSaskatchewanSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinWyomingArgentina NortheastArgentina NorthwestArgentina SouthChile CentralChile North DelawareDistrict of ColumbiaRhode I.
Native distribution of Festuca octoflora, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
Arizona ARI
Arkansas ARK
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexican Pacific Is. MXI
Mexico Northwest MXN
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Mississippi MSI
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
Nevada NEV
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
North Dakota NDA
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
Saskatchewan SAS
South Carolina SCA
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Wyoming WYO
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Argentina Northwest AGW
Argentina South AGS
Chile Central CLC
Chile North CLN

Not drawn on the map: Mexican Pacific Is.. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 928 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -8.6 °C 3.8 °C 8.7 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 25.8 °C 33.7 °C 38.1 °C
Annual rainfall 187 mm 848 mm 1,279 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 7 mm 136 mm 269 mm

It is found where winters bring hard frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 928 research-grade observations of Festuca octoflora that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 22 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Brachypodium festucoides Link
  • Diarrhena setacea (Poir.) Roem. & Schult.
  • Festuca gracilenta Buckley
  • Festuca octoflora subsp. hirtella Piper
  • Festuca octoflora var. glauca (Nutt.) Fernald
  • Festuca octoflora var. hirtella (Piper) Hitchc.
  • Festuca octoflora var. tenella (Willd.) Fernald
  • Festuca parviflora Elliott
  • Festuca pusilla Buckley
  • Festuca setacea Poir.
  • Festuca tenella Willd.
  • Festuca tenella var. aristulata Torr.
  • Festuca tenella var. glauca Nutt.
  • Gnomonia octoflora (Walter) Lunell
  • Schedonorus tenellus (Willd.) P.Beauv.
  • Vulpia antofagastensis Parodi
  • Vulpia octoflora (Walter) Rydb.
  • Vulpia octoflora f. hirtella (Piper) C.H.Blom
  • Vulpia octoflora var. glauca (Nutt.) Fernald
  • Vulpia octoflora var. hirtella (Piper) Henrard
  • Vulpia octoflora var. tenella (Willd.) Fernald
  • Vulpia tenella (Willd.) Heynh.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol VUOC. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.