Wood fescue

Festuca altissima, the wood fescue, is a robust tufted perennial grass in the family Poaceae native to deciduous forests across much of temperate Europe, extending east into the Caucasus and northern Iran. Plants form dense compact tussocks 60-150 cm tall with smooth glabrous culms. Leaf blades are flat, broad for a Festuca (5-15 mm wide) and 20-40 cm long, with rough margins, a glossy bright-green colour, and prominent parallel veins; the ligule is a conspicuous, papery membranous flap 3-6 mm long, much longer than in most fescues. The inflorescence is a loose nodding panicle 15-30 cm long with slender wide-spreading branches, each bearing several ovate-oblong spikelets 5-7 mm long. Each spikelet contains 2-5 florets with awnless or very shortly mucronate lemmas. Flowering takes place from June to August. Fruits are small ribbed caryopses. The species inhabits moist shaded broadleaf forests, ravines, north-facing slopes, and gorges, typically on humus-rich, slightly acidic to neutral soils, from lowland to montane elevations up to about 1500 m. It is a forest indicator species in much of central Europe.