Festuca subulata Trin.

vernacular bearded fescue — species · Poaceae

USDA: FESU
GBIF: 2704992
Rank: species

bearded fescue (Festuca subulata) — Platephotograph · Braden J. JudsonCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Growth habit: Graminoid
Duration: Perennial
Group: Monocot
Family: Poaceae Barnhart
Genus: Festuca

§2a

Native status, by region

AK Alaska Native
CAN Canada Native
L48 Lower 48 States Native

§2b

County-level range

· 1 county across 1 state

Legend Native · 1 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought: Low
Shade: Low
Moisture use: High
Fire: High
Salinity: Low
Anaerobic: Low
CaCO₃: Medium
Hedging: None

§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance: -38 °F minimum
Frost-free days: 90 min.
Precipitation: 10–32 in/yr
pH range: 5.8–7.4
Root depth: 12 in min.
Fertility need: Medium
Soil texture: coarse, medium, fine

§3c

Form & growth

Growth form: Bunch
Growth rate: Moderate
Lifespan: Long
Mature height: 1.2 ft
Foliage texture: Medium
Foliage colour: Green
Porosity (summer): Moderate
Porosity (winter): Porous
Flower colour: Yellow
Fruit colour: Brown
Fire resistant: No
N fixation: None
Toxicity: None

§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period: Late Spring
Seed abundance: Medium
Seed begins: Summer
Seed ends: Summer
Spread rate: Slow
Stratify: No
Seeds / lb: 400,000
Propagation: seed

§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability: Contracting Only
Nursery stock: No
Browse palatability: Low
Graze palatability: Low
Palatable, human: No
Protein potential: Low
Lumber: No
Christmas tree: No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 1 county across 1 state.

Montana view state ↗ 1 N ▾

Teton 30099

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/FESU ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2704992 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25

fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z