Festuca ovinaL.

Sheep's Fescuesheep fescue

WFO wfo-0000871222 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Festuca ovina, photographed by Jens-Christian Svenning
fig. a Jens-Christian Svenning, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-07-27 / obs. 146563350
Festuca ovina, photographed by Jens-Christian Svenning
fig. b Jens-Christian Svenning, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 146178052
Festuca ovina, photographed by pete_gateley
fig. c pete_gateley, CC0 1.0 / obs. 142327882
Festuca ovina, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. d Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 93099944
Festuca ovina, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. e Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 78715427
Festuca ovina, photographed by Jacy Chen
fig. f Jacy Chen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 135021136
Festuca ovina, photographed by Cheng-Tao Lin
fig. g Cheng-Tao Lin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 21777982
Festuca ovina, photographed by 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi)
fig. h 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), CC BY 4.0 / obs. 64370332

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
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
02550130
Filed as
Festuca ovina L.
Det. by
D. E. Atha 2016-01-01
Collected
D. E. Atha 2016-06-17
Origin
US
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

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 64 botanical countries

Regions where Festuca ovina is native: Morocco, Afghanistan, Altay, Amur, Buryatiya, China North-Central, China South-Central, China Southeast, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Iran, Irkutsk, Japan, Khabarovsk, Korea, Krasnoyarsk, Kuril Is., Lebanon-Syria, Magadan, Manchuria, Mongolia, North Caucasus, Primorye, Qinghai, Sakhalin, Taiwan, Tibet, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Tuva, West Siberia, Xinjiang, Yakutiya, Nepal, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, Føroyar, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine MoroccoAfghanistanAltayAmurBuryatiyaChina North-CentralChina South-CentralChina SoutheastChitaInner MongoliaIranIrkutskJapanKhabarovskKrasnoyarskLebanon-SyriaMagadanManchuriaMongoliaNorth CaucasusPrimoryeQinghaiSakhalinTaiwanTibetTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanTuvaWest SiberiaXinjiangYakutiyaNepalPakistanWest HimalayaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyHungaryIrelandItalyNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSwedenSwitzerlandUkraine KoreaFøroyar
Native distribution of Festuca ovina, 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
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Altay ALT
Amur AMU
Buryatiya BRY
China North-Central CHN
China South-Central CHC
China Southeast CHS
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Iran IRN
Irkutsk IRK
Japan JAP
Khabarovsk KHA
Korea KOR
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Kuril Is. KUR
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Magadan MAG
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
North Caucasus NCS
Primorye PRM
Qinghai CHQ
Sakhalin SAK
Taiwan TAI
Tibet CHT
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Yakutiya YAK
Austria AUT EUROPE
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Føroyar FOR
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Nepal NEP ASIA-TROPICAL
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM
Morocco MOR AFRICA

Not drawn on the map: Kuril Is., Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for these regions, so they are 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 452 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -27.0 °C -9.1 °C 0.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 12.0 °C 21.1 °C 24.3 °C
Annual rainfall 379 mm 695 mm 3,824 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 18 mm 112 mm 339 mm

It is found where winters are arctic. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 452 research-grade observations of Festuca ovina 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 171 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.

  • Avena ovina Salisb.
  • Bromus ovinus (L.) Scop.
  • Festuca agrestis Wulfen ex Steud.
  • Festuca baumgarteniana Schur
  • Festuca capillaris Wulfen
  • Festuca centroapenninica (Markgr.-Dann.) Foggi, F.Conti & Pignatti
  • Festuca chiisanensis (Ohwi) E.B.Alexeev
  • Festuca cinerea var. scabrifolia (Hack.) M.Toman
  • Festuca diffusa V.N.Vassil.
  • Festuca duriuscula var. djurjurae Batt. & Trab.
  • Festuca duriuscula var. gracilior (Hack.) Bidault
  • Festuca eskia Lej.
  • Festuca filifolia Link
  • Festuca fontqueriana (St.-Yves) Romo
  • Festuca glauca var. exilior (St.-Yves) Bidault
  • Festuca glauca var. firmuloides (St.-Yves) Bidault
  • Festuca glauca var. hallerioides Schur
  • Festuca glauca var. scabrifolia Hack.
  • Festuca glaucantha Blocki
  • Festuca glaucoidea (J.Vetter) E.B.Alexeev
  • Festuca guestphalica Boenn. ex Rchb.
  • Festuca guinochetii (Bidault) S.Arndt
  • Festuca hallerioides Schur
  • Festuca heterophylla Wahlenb.

and 147 more.

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. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. 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.