Arrhenatherum longifolium

Arrhenatherum longifolium is a perennial grass in the family Poaceae closely allied to the more familiar tall oat-grass (Arrhenatherum elatius) and treated by some authors as a subspecies of it. It is native to mountainous parts of southern and south-eastern Europe, especially the Balkans, southern Alps and Carpathians, where it grows in subalpine meadows, open conifer woodland, screes and rocky pastures. The plant forms loose tufts of slender, erect culms typically 60–120 cm tall, with flat to narrowly involute leaves bearing a membranous ligule. The open, somewhat lax panicles carry awned two-flowered spikelets characteristic of the genus, with the lower floret usually staminate and bearing a long bent awn and the upper floret hermaphrodite. Like other tall oat-grasses it is a forage component of montane grasslands.