Festuca altissima, Festuca sylvatica, SE: Skogssvingel,
DE: Wald-Schwingel, NL: Zwenkgras, UK: Wood Fescue

Scientific name:  Festuca altissima All.
Synonym name:  Festuca sylvatica (Pollich) Vill.
Swedish name:  Skogssvingel
German name:  Wald-Schwingel
Nederlandse naam:  Zwenkgras
English name:  Wood Fescue
Family:   Poaceae, Grass family, Gräs

Sweden wildflowers - Vilda blommor i Sverige - Svenska blommor, Sverige vilda växter
Date Picture Taken: July 13, 2008
Life form:  Perennial herb without rhizomes
Stems:  Culms (refers to the above-ground or aerial stems of grasses and sedges) erect; 50–120 cm long; 3–4 -noded.
Leaves:  Alternate, glabrous, long-linear,gragually narrowed to a fine point, leaf-blades 20–60 cm long; 4–14 mm wide
Flowers:  Inflorescence a panicle, pale-coloured flower spikelets, oblong or wedgeshaped
Flowering Period:  June, July
Fruits:  Caryopsis with adherent pericarp; hairy at apex.
Habitat:  woods, thickets

Fältflora,Festuca altissima, Skogssvingel, Wald-Schwingel, Zwenkgras, Wood Fescue
Date Picture Taken: July 23, 2008


Derivation of the botanical name:
Festuca, a "rod", literally "straw," which can be a twig or small stick. Latin name on grass straw by Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BCE – 27 BCE).
Altissima, Altus, "high" and means "the highest".
  • The standard author abbreviation All. is used to indicate Carlo Allioni (1728 – 1804), an Italian physician and professor of botany at the University of Turin.
  • The standard author abbreviation Pollich is used to indicate Johan Adam Pollich (1740 – 1780), a German doctor, botanist and entomologist.
  • The standard author abbreviation Vill. is used to indicate Dominique Villars (1745 – 1814), a French botanist.