Practical Weed Science for the Field Scout: Corn and Soybean

Fescue, tall (Festuca arundinacea)

Perennial grass

A clump-forming perennial grass planted for use as a forage and turfgrass but also occurring as a weed of certain environments. Mature plants have leaves with small, inconspicuous blunt auricles and a ligule that is a fringe of hairs. Leaf blades are 4 to 12 mm wide and have distinctive veins on the upper leaf surface. Lower leaf surfaces are shiny, and leaf margins are rough throughout. The seedhead is initially a compressed panicle that spreads out with maturity. Quackgrass and annual or Italian ryegrass are some of the only other grass species with auricles like tall fescue.

IPM1007, revised November 2009