Lolium arundinaceum(Schreb.) Darbysh.

Tall fescuetall fescue

WFO wfo-0000878351 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Lolium arundinaceum, photographed by Andrew Skotnicki
fig. a Andrew Skotnicki, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-09 / obs. 196591984
Lolium arundinaceum, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. b Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 193503152
Lolium arundinaceum, photographed by Jenny Saito
fig. c Jenny Saito, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 187212914
Lolium arundinaceum, photographed by Penelope Noel Gillette
fig. d Penelope Noel Gillette, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 186309899
Lolium arundinaceum, photographed by Sunita Singh
fig. e Sunita Singh, CC0 1.0 / obs. 186368283
Lolium arundinaceum, photographed by Casey H. Richart
fig. f Casey H. Richart, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 181504834
Lolium arundinaceum, photographed by Joe Dillon
fig. g Joe Dillon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 179471264
Lolium arundinaceum, photographed by Daniel Cahen
fig. h Daniel Cahen, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 176145613

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 62 botanical countries

Regions where Lolium arundinaceum is native: Algeria, Azores, Canary Is., Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kirgizstan, Lebanon-Syria, North Caucasus, Palestine, Tadzhikistan, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, West Siberia, Xinjiang, East Himalaya, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Albania, Austria, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kriti, Krym, Netherlands, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine AlgeriaLibyaMoroccoTunisiaAfghanistanCyprusEast Aegean Is.IranIraqKazakhstanKirgizstanLebanon-SyriaNorth CaucasusPalestineTadzhikistanTranscaucasusTürkiyeTurkmenistanUzbekistanWest SiberiaXinjiangEast HimalayaPakistanWest HimalayaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryIrelandItalyKritiKrymNetherlandsNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandPortugalRomaniaSiciliaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-EuropeUkraine AzoresCanary Is.BalearesSardegna
Native distribution of Lolium arundinaceum, 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
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baleares BAL
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Ireland IRE
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Ukraine UKR
Afghanistan AFG ASIA-TEMPERATE
Cyprus CYP
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Kazakhstan KAZ
Kirgizstan KGZ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
North Caucasus NCS
Palestine PAL
Tadzhikistan TZK
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Turkmenistan TKM
Uzbekistan UZB
West Siberia WSB
Xinjiang CHX
Algeria ALG AFRICA
Azores AZO
Canary Is. CNY
Libya LBY
Morocco MOR
Tunisia TUN
East Himalaya EHM ASIA-TROPICAL
Pakistan PAK
West Himalaya WHM

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. 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.

Flowering 123 in flower of 381 examined

Peak flowering in May. Each bar is the share of Lolium arundinaceum observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 123 of 381 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 2,068 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -11.2 °C -3.0 °C 8.3 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 18.7 °C 23.0 °C 32.8 °C
Annual rainfall 547 mm 749 mm 1,633 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 64 mm 123 mm 281 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 2,068 research-grade observations of Lolium arundinaceum 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. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 95 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.

  • Aira oryzetorum Spreng.
  • Avena secunda Salisb.
  • Bromus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Roth
  • Bromus decolorans Rchb.
  • Bromus elatior (L.) Koeler
  • Bromus elatus Gueldenst. ex Griseb.
  • Bromus littoreus Retz.
  • Bucetum elatius (L.) Parn.
  • Bucetum elatius var. variegatum Parn.
  • Festuca archeri E.B.Alexeev
  • Festuca articulata De Not. ex Parl.
  • Festuca arundinacea Schreb.
  • Festuca arundinacea f. baltica (Asch. & Graebn.) Beldie
  • Festuca arundinacea f. obtusiflora (Schur) Beldie
  • Festuca arundinacea f. pseudomairei (Litard. & Maire) Auquier
  • Festuca arundinacea subsp. conferta (Hack.) Soják
  • Festuca arundinacea subsp. orientalis (Hack.) Tzvelev
  • Festuca arundinacea subsp. subalpina (Hack.) K.Richt.
  • Festuca arundinacea subsp. uechtritziana (Wiesb.) Hegi
  • Festuca arundinacea var. aristata Regel
  • Festuca arundinacea var. aspera (Mutel) Asch. & Graebn.
  • Festuca arundinacea var. baltica Asch. & Graebn.
  • Festuca arundinacea var. fasciculata Sond.
  • Festuca arundinacea var. incrustata Rchb.

and 71 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.