Festuca altissima Wood Fescue

A rather scarce fescue of old woodlands and humid, wooded ravines and mostly near water such as on rocks near waterfalls. It is a tall, shallow-rooting grass which grows in gregarious, leafy tussocks and clould be confused with other tall woodland grasses. It has a rather demanding ecology and tends to grow in places that are difficult to reach such as crevices in vertical rock, often in shaded locations and on sandstones wihich have a reasonable carbonate conetent. It is very susceptible to competition with more vigorous species like Great Woodrush (Luzula sylvatica) and Tufted Hair-grass which grow in similar places. Wood Fescue is long-lived and although it may have been lost from many of its former sites, particularly in the southern parts of its British range, diligent searching has revealed that it is more common than previously thought in northern Britain, at least in its favoured habitats. It has a rather scattered distribution in the west and north of Britain but is very scarce at the southern edge of its range in Wales. All records in West Glamorgan are from humid, wooded ravines but there are have been few records of it in recent decades. It was noted by CH, Quentin Kay and Gwynne Ellis in the 1985 on the vertical rock face above Scwd Gwladys in the Pyrddin Valley, which is the last time it was recorded in the county. Systematic searching will probably lead to rediscoveries of this axiophyte species.

Native

Now renamed Drymochloa sylvatica (Pollich,) Holub.

See John Richard's excellent account:  Richards, A.J. (date accessed). Species account: Festuca altissima. Botanical Society of Britain and Irelandhttps://bsbi.org/