Red Fescue

Festuca rubra

Pollinator Value

🐛 Larval Host: Apamea niveivenosa, Pediasia trisecta, Hesperia comma, Coenonympha tullia, Hesperia sassacus, Chrysoteuchia topiaria, Cisseps fulvicollis
S13+S15 7 verified Eastern NA
❄️ Winter Food Source: Seeds consumed by Greater White-fronted Goose, Lapland Longspur, Lesser White-fronted Goose, and Snow Bunting. High seed abundance provides a reliable winter forage resource for granivorous birds and small mammals in open habitats.
S57 4 bird species; S11 Fruit/Seed Abundance=High

Proximity Score: 3a
Native Status: ❌ Outaouais ❌ Ottawa ❌ QC ✅ ON
Closest Direction: E
CEC Eco-Regions: 8 – Eastern Temperate Forests, 8.1 – Mixed Wood Plains, 8.1.9 – Maritime Lowlands
Rarity Notes: Globally secure (G5). Secure in Ontario (S5) where it includes both native and introduced populations. Not ranked in Quebec (SNR). Not listed under SARA. The species complex includes both native coastal subspecies and widely introduced turf/erosion-control strains.
S22 G5, S5 ON, SNR QC; S26 not SARA listed; S61 native/non-native subspecies
Rarity Ranks: QC SNR – Not Ranked, ON S5 – Secure
Migration: Stable
Ecological Context: A highly variable circumboreal grass found in meadows, fields, roadsides, shores, and disturbed open habitats. In the Ottawa-Gatineau region it occurs primarily as an introduced cool-season grass in anthropogenic settings such as lawns, roadsides, and old fields. Some native subspecies exist in coastal habitats of eastern North America, but inland populations are largely introduced strains used for erosion control and turf.
S61 circumboreal, disturbed habitats; S7 roadsides, fields, shores; S62 introduced in Ottawa

Roles: Fire Retardant, Fortress/Barrier, Nutrient Accumulator
S73/S29/S72 Evidence: Fire Retardant: S73 [HIGH]: S11 Fire Resistant = Yes (definitional)] | Fortress/Barrier: S61 keyword match: prickl (supporting signal only)] | Nutrient Accumulator: S72 Hemenway (tables: 6-2, pp. 96)]
Notes: Useful as a living mulch and ground-layer companion in guild plantings. Accumulates phosphorus and potassium from subsoil, making them available to neighboring plants through leaf litter decomposition. Fire-resistant foliage provides a protective ground cover in fire-prone designs. Rhizomatous spread stabilizes soil on slopes.
S72 P/K accumulator; S11 Fire Resistant=Yes; S61 erosion control

❌ Not Edible

Foraging Notes: Not edible. No ethnobotanical food uses documented by Moerman. USDA rates human palatability as none.
S11 Palatable Human=No; S28 no uses