tall fescue

Festuca arundinacea (accepted: Lolium arundinaceum) · Poaceae · all Festuca records · also called Fescue, Tall · syn. Festuca arundinacea · Wikipedia

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Form: grass
Mature height: ~2 ft
Water need: high
Rated in: British Columbia; Montana / Northern Rockies

On this lot

1. Fire evidence and conditions

Fire evidence: Fire-resistant — location does not change the cited classification.
Fire-performance conditions
Fire ecology context
Placement evidence: 1 source placement record; source schemes remain separate.
Evidence regions: British Columbia; Montana / Northern Rockies
Maintenance

Typed publication scope: 1 scope across 1 cited fire source

Fire-Resistant Plants for Montana Landscapes (MontGuide MT200101AG) · Official scoped edition
- MT; partial normalized coverage · 2022-04-01
  The April 2022 MontGuide explicitly presents fire-resistant species adapted to Montana. FireApproved publishes 92 exact plant records from the source while retaining excluded genus, family, and unresolved rows; the guide itself says not every listed species grows in every part of the state.

2. Why this plant is relevant here

State distribution: Documented in AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, MS, MT, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY.
Native range
Introduced / established
USDA hardiness: Documented minimum 4b; no upper limit is documented.

3. Legal, ecological, and broader status

Legal-list status
Seed-list status
Reported invasive here
Broader regional context
Federal context

Plant-specific state seed-list reviews (4)

These source-bound receipts answer only the July 2026 state noxious-weed seed-list question.

This answers only whether the plant identity appears in the July 2026 state noxious-weed seed sheet. It does not establish non-seed plant legal status, ecological-invasive status, nursery-sale rules, or unrestricted use.

NJ · Seed-list name scope unresolved. An exact source taxon is governed by “Restricted weed seed in lawn and turf seed and mixtures” or an applicable source note, so the qualified row is held instead of publishing an unconditional result. Held source row: usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:NJ:036. Governing seed section: Restricted weed seed in lawn and turf seed and mixtures; normalized seed-kind scope: lawn and turf seed; applicable note rows usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:NJ:029, usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:NJ:040, usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:NJ:041, usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:NJ:042, usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:NJ:047. Official USDA seed requirements. Normalized source record.
PA · Seed-list name scope unresolved. An exact source taxon is governed by “Restricted (Undesirable Grass Seeds) in lawn and turf seeds” or an applicable source note, so the qualified row is held instead of publishing an unconditional result. Held source row: usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:PA:048. Governing seed section: Restricted (Undesirable Grass Seeds) in lawn and turf seeds; normalized seed-kind scope: lawn and turf seed; applicable note rows usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:PA:053, usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:PA:054, usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:PA:055. Official USDA seed requirements. Normalized source record.
VA · Seed-list name scope unresolved. An exact source taxon is governed by “Restricted - Lawn and turf seed only” or an applicable source note, so the qualified row is held instead of publishing an unconditional result. Held source row: usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:VA:035. Governing seed section: Restricted - Lawn and turf seed only; normalized seed-kind scope: lawn and turf seed; applicable note rows usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:VA:040, usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:VA:041. Official USDA seed requirements. Normalized source record.
WV · Seed-list name scope unresolved. An exact source taxon is governed by “Restricted Noxious-weed Seed in Lawn and Turf Seed and Mixture” or an applicable source note, so the qualified row is held instead of publishing an unconditional result. Held source row: usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:WV:068. Governing seed section: Restricted Noxious-weed Seed in Lawn and Turf Seed and Mixture; normalized seed-kind scope: lawn and turf seed; applicable note rows usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:WV:059, usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:WV:079, usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:WV:080, usda-ams-state-noxious-weed-seed-2026:WV:081. Official USDA seed requirements. Normalized source record.

How to read this page

The status above is computed from the cited rows below: independent recommendations can support a fire-resistant result, an avoid row can produce keep-away, and disagreement stays visible as conflict. Placement notes preserve each source’s own scheme rather than translating unlike rules into one scale. This is evidence about a plant, not permission to plant it in every part of the defensible space; Zone 0 remains noncombustible.

Plant hardiness evidence

These values describe the plant source. Your ZIP zone comes from the separate 2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map. Whole-zone values stay whole-zone, and a single unresolved value is not treated as a tolerance range. Different source boundaries stay separate: overlapping statements are compared independently, while only ranges with no shared zone are called a conflict.

USDA PLANTS Database — Plant Characteristics · record SCAR7 · PLANTS Help Document 2022; characteristics cache retrieved 2026-08-23 · as of 2026-08-26

Minimum 4b · no upper limit documented · half zone precision · derived containing band

Exact source measurement: -23°F; mapped only to its containing half-zone.

Source taxon: Festuca arundinacea · source identifier match.

Source location: PlantCharacteristics record 25394, Temperature, Minimum (°F).

Where its sources say to plant it

Placement rules below use each source's own distances or named zones, tied to its rating. They are not interchangeable with the directory's current Zone 0 guidance.

FireSmart BC Plant Program: suitable for HIZ intermediate zone (10-30 m) [FireSmart BC Home Ignition Zone] (with its recommendation)

The evidence

Grouped by what each source concluded. Primary evidence rated the plant itself (a lab, field program, or original curation); corroboration compiled or republished another source's rating and resolves to its root lineage.

Last verified 2026-08-23. JSON (CC BY 4.0)

Profiles: USDA PLANTS · GBIF · iNaturalist · Wikidata · Wikipedia · ITIS

Festuca arundinacea (Fescue, Tall). FireApproved. https://fireapproved.com/plants/festuca-arundinacea/. Last verified 2026-08-23.