Festuca subverticillata(Pers.) E.B.Alexeev

nodding fescue

WFO wfo-0000872248 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Festuca subverticillata, photographed by Ashwin Srinivasan
fig. a Ashwin Srinivasan, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-06-06 / obs. 134524907
Festuca subverticillata, photographed by Quinten Wiegersma
fig. b Quinten Wiegersma, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 82792751
Festuca subverticillata, photographed by Kevin Faccenda
fig. c Kevin Faccenda, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 75733740
Festuca subverticillata, photographed by Mike B
fig. d Mike B, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 44163635
Festuca subverticillata, photographed by Reuven Martin
fig. e Reuven Martin, CC0 1.0 / obs. 20704415
Festuca subverticillata, photographed by runcator
fig. f runcator, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 59845802
Festuca subverticillata, photographed by aarongunnar
fig. g aarongunnar, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 134733286
Festuca subverticillata, photographed by aarongunnar
fig. h aarongunnar, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 22987792

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.

Native range 43 botanical countries

Regions where Festuca subverticillata is native: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Manitoba, Maryland, Mexico Northeast, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Pennsylvania, Québec, Rhode I., South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin AlabamaArkansasConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineManitobaMarylandMexico NortheastMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriNebraskaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaNova ScotiaOhioOklahomaOntarioPennsylvaniaQuébecSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasVermontVirginiaWest VirginiaWisconsin DelawareDistrict of ColumbiaRhode I.
Native distribution of Festuca subverticillata, 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
Arkansas ARK
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maine MAI
Manitoba MAN
Maryland MRY
Mexico Northeast MXE
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Mississippi MSI
Missouri MSO
Nebraska NEB
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
North Dakota NDA
Nova Scotia NSC
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
South Carolina SCA
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS

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 530 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -13.3 °C -7.2 °C -0.5 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 24.1 °C 27.6 °C 31.5 °C
Annual rainfall 858 mm 1,035 mm 1,390 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 97 mm 202 mm 283 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 530 research-grade observations of Festuca subverticillata 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 23 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.

  • Festuca obtusa Biehler
  • Festuca obtusa f. pilosifolia Dore
  • Festuca obtusa var. sprengeliana St.-Yves
  • Festuca pseudoduriuscula Steud.
  • Festuca subverticillata f. pilosifolia (Dore) Darbysh.
  • Festuca subverticillata f. subverticillata
  • Panicum debile Poir.
  • Panicum divaricatum Michx.
  • Panicum gracilentum Poir.
  • Panicum patentissimum Roem. & Schult.
  • Poa annua var. racemosa (Schur) Asch. & Graebn.
  • Poa brachiata Desv.
  • Poa festucoides Torr.
  • Poa laxa Lam.
  • Poa laxa subsp. laxa
  • Poa laxa subsp. riphaea Asch. & Graebn.
  • Poa laxa var. riphaea Asch. & Graebn.
  • Poa melicoidea Link
  • Poa subverticillata Pers.
  • Schedonorus obtusus (Biehler) Roem. & Schult.
  • Steinchisma divaricatum Raf. ex B.D.Jacks.
  • Steinchisma divaricatum Raf.
  • Steinchisma hians Raf.

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.