Demeter Fescue

Festuca arundinacea var. Demeter

Synonyms - Festuca elatior, Festuca fenas, Festuca orientalis.

Family: - Poaceae.

Names:

Festuca is from the Latin words meaning a weed of barley.

Tall Fescue

Other names:

Alta Fescue

Reed Fescue

Tall Meadow Fescue.

Summary:

A tall, hairless, perennial tussocky grass with flat leaves and paired branches in the purplish, nodding, open seed head.

Description:

Cotyledons:

One.

Leaves:

Emerging leaf rolled in the bud. Hairless.

Blade - Dark green, flat, 100-750 mm long by 3-12 mm wide, strap like, tapering, finely ribbed. Rough on the edges and upper surface. Erect when growth is short, becoming lax as they elongate. Hairless but often has a few hairs near the mouth.

Ligule - Very short, membranous. Flat top.

Auricles - Encircle the stem. Has tiny hairs.

Sheath - Long. Hairless.

Stems:

Erect, stout, coarse, tufted, up to 1200 mm tall, often spreading, unbranched below the seed head. Sometimes bent at the lower nodes. Hairless. Rhizomes. May form large clumps.

Flower head:

Loose or contracted, erect or nodding panicle, 100-450 mm long, lance shaped in outline. Branches in pairs and different lengths with 3-15 spikelets. Hairless.

Flowers:

Spikelets - 8-18 mm long, 4-10 flowered, flattened. Often on a short stalk. Often purplish.

Florets -

Glumes - First one 4-6 mm long, 1 veined.

Second one 5-7 mm long, 3 veined, keeled, persistent. Shorter than floret.

Palea -

Lemma - Stiff, 5-9 mm long, 5 veined. Short awn or point, 0.5-4 mm long near the tip.

Stamens -

Anthers -

Breaks above the glumes and between the florets.

Fruit:

Seeds:

Roots:

Fibrous. Deep under ground rhizomes.

Key Characters:

Biology:

Life cycle:

Perennial. Cultivars differ in their main growth period. They tend to be either winter productive and summer dormant or vice versa. Flowering mainly in summer.

Physiology:

Reproduction:

By seed and rhizomes.

Flowering times:

Mainly in January in SA.

Flowers in summer in WA.

Seed Biology and Germination:

Vegetative Propagules:

Deep underground rhizomes.

Hybrids:

Allelopathy:

Population Dynamics and Dispersal:

Origin and History:

Europe, Asia.

Introduced as a pasture grass and has become naturalised.

Distribution:

ACT, NSW, QLD, SA, TAS, VIC, WA.

Habitats:

Climate:

Temperate.

Soil:

Abundant on poorly drained, boggy, infertile soils.

Plant Associations:

Significance:

Beneficial:

Fodder. Cultivated pasture grass that has naturalised.

Detrimental:

Weed of grass land, roadsides and disturbed areas.

Toxicity:

Toxic due to an associated fungus.

Causes "Fescue foot" in calves. Unaccustomed cattle exposed to dense green infestations in winter appear to be most susceptible.

Symptoms:

Loss of weight, lameness and jerkiness in the hindquarters, dry gangrene of the feet and tail, sloughing of the hoof, death. Left hind foot is usually the first affected and rarely on the front feet. Symptoms may appear from 3 days to 6 months after grazing Tall Fescue.

Almost identical symptoms to the ergot fungus.

Sheep are rarely affected.

Treatment:

Remove cattle from infested pastures, lameness usually disappears in 7-10 days. Provide alternate feed. Don't graze infested pastures for more than a week at a time.

Maintain a vigorous legume component in the pasture.

Legislation:

None.

Management and Control:

In cropping areas, Demeter Fescue can usually be reduced to insignificant levels by using glyphosate for spray topping, summer weed control and pre plant weed control.

A typical program would be heavy autumn grazing followed by heavy grazing in late winter to spring with stock being removed when the annual grasses start to elongate in spring. When the heads of annual grasses just start to emerge Spraytop with 800 mL/ha glyphosate(450g/L) followed by 800 mL/ha 4 weeks later. If summer weeds emerge then spray with glyphosate at a rate appropriate for the weeds. In autumn spray annual weeds when they have reached the 2 leaf stage with about 2 L/ha glyphosate(450g/L). Rates should be adjusted so that a total of 3-4 L/ha glyphosate is applied over the 2-4 sprays. This will give results similar to applying 6 L/ha as a single application. Cultivation, 2-10 days after spraying with a scarifier or using a tyned full cut seeder to plant the crop will provide improved control compared to minimum tillage planting.

Thresholds:

Eradication strategies:

Graze continuously and heavily.

Spray with glyphosate, preferably before flowering and repeat each 6-8 weeks if new growth appears.

Cultivate.

Herbicide resistance:

Biological Control:

Related plants:

Graceful Fescue (Festuca asperula)

Snow Fescue (Festuca eriopoda)

Hooker's Fescue (Festuca hookeriana)

Coast Fescue (Festuca littoralis)

Chewing's Fescue (Festuca nigrescens)

Meadow Fescue (Festuca pratensis)

Red Fescue (Festuca rubra)

Plants of similar appearance:

Perennial grasses.

References:

Black, J.M. (1965). Flora of South Australia. (Government Printer, Adelaide, South Australia). P146.

Ciba Geigy (1981) Grass Weeds 2. CIBA GEIGY Ltd, Basle, Switzerland. P80. Diagrams.

Everist, S.L. (1974). Poisonous Plants of Australia. (Angus and Robertson, Sydney). P320.

Hussey, B.M.J., Keighery, G.J., Cousens, R.D., Dodd, J. and Lloyd, S.G. (1997). Western Weeds. A guide to the weeds of Western Australia. (Plant Protection Society of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia). P54-55. Photo.

Lamp, C. and Collet, F. (1990). A Field Guide to Weeds in Australia. (Inkata Press, Melbourne).

Lazarides, M. and Hince, B. (1993). CSIRO handbook of economic plants of Australia. (CSIRO, Melbourne). #547.1.

McBarron, E.J. (1983). Poisonous plants. (Inkata Press, Melbourne). P23-24. Diagrams.

Paterson, J.G. (1977). Grasses in South Western Australia. (Western Australian Department of Agriculture Bulletin 4007). P52. Diagram.

Acknowledgments:

Collated by HerbiGuide. Phone 08 98444064 or www.herbiguide.com.au for more information.