Scolochloa festucacea(Willd.) Link

common rivergrass

WFO wfo-0000898496 Accepted WFO 2026-06 6 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–f · 3 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 3 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Scolochloa festucacea, photographed by Svetlana Polevova
fig. a Svetlana Polevova, CC0 1.0 / 2021-07-10 / obs. 144180712
Scolochloa festucacea, photographed by Nina Filippova
fig. b Nina Filippova, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 91124672
Scolochloa festucacea, photographed by Nina Filippova
fig. c Nina Filippova, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 91124660
Scolochloa festucacea, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. d Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 95539539
Scolochloa festucacea, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. e Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 95539551
Scolochloa festucacea, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. f Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 95539574

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 42 botanical countries

Regions where Scolochloa festucacea is native: Altay, Chita, Inner Mongolia, Irkutsk, Kazakhstan, Krasnoyarsk, Manchuria, Mongolia, Transcaucasus, Türkiye, Tuva, West Siberia, Yakutiya, Baltic States, Belarus, Central European Russia, East European Russia, Finland, Germany, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Poland, South European Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Manitoba, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Northwest Territories, Oregon, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Wyoming, Yukon AltayChitaInner MongoliaIrkutskKazakhstanKrasnoyarskManchuriaMongoliaTranscaucasusTürkiyeTuvaWest SiberiaYakutiyaBaltic StatesBelarusCentral European RussiaEast European RussiaFinlandGermanyNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaPolandSouth European RussiaSwedenUkraineAlaskaAlbertaBritish ColumbiaIdahoIowaKansasManitobaMinnesotaMontanaNebraskaNorth DakotaNorthwest TerritoriesOregonSaskatchewanSouth DakotaWyomingYukon
Native distribution of Scolochloa festucacea, 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.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alaska ASK NORTHERN AMERICA
Alberta ABT
British Columbia BRC
Idaho IDA
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Manitoba MAN
Minnesota MIN
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
North Dakota NDA
Northwest Territories NWT
Oregon ORE
Saskatchewan SAS
South Dakota SDA
Wyoming WYO
Yukon YUK
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Chita CTA
Inner Mongolia CHI
Irkutsk IRK
Kazakhstan KAZ
Krasnoyarsk KRA
Manchuria CHM
Mongolia MON
Transcaucasus TCS
Türkiye TUR
Tuva TVA
West Siberia WSB
Yakutiya YAK
Baltic States BLT EUROPE
Belarus BLR
Central European Russia RUC
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
Germany GER
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Poland POL
South European Russia RUS
Sweden SWE
Ukraine UKR

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 74 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -23.4 °C -11.0 °C -8.6 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 20.9 °C 22.8 °C 25.0 °C
Annual rainfall 359 mm 630 mm 740 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 36 mm 99 mm 119 mm

It is found where winters are severely cold. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 74 research-grade observations of Scolochloa festucacea 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 18 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 arundinacea Lilj.
  • Arundo festucacea Willd.
  • Donax borealis Trin.
  • Donax festucaceus (Willd.) P.Beauv.
  • Festuca arundinacea Lilj.
  • Festuca borealis (Trin.) Mert. & W.D.J.Koch
  • Festuca donacina Wahlenb.
  • Fluminia arundinacea (Roem. & Schult.) Fr.
  • Fluminia festucacea (Willd.) Hitchc.
  • Glyceria arundinacea (Roem. & Schult.) Fr.
  • Graphephorum arundinaceum (Roem. & Schult.) Asch.
  • Graphephorum festucaceum (Willd.) A.Gray
  • Schedonorus arundinaceus Roem. & Schult.
  • Scolochloa arundinacea (Roem. & Schult.) MacMill.
  • Scolochloa festucacea f. artistata Holmb.
  • Scolochloa marchica M.Duvel, Ristow, H.Scholz
  • Sieglingia festucacea (Willd.) Jess.
  • Triodia festucacea (Willd.) Roth

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.