Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Nodding fescue
Festuca subverticillata
Nodding fescue is recorded as native to 35 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,121 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Nodding fescue at a glance
- Native in
- 1,121 counties, across 35 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a PLANTS minimum temperature −43°F
- Mature height
- 3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Sun to part shade Medium water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3a. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −43°F; zone 3a winters bottom out at −40°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Nodding fescue is recorded as native to 35 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,121 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,121 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 6 counties
- Arkansas 22 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 1 county
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 3 counties
- Georgia 10 counties
- Illinois 92 counties
- Indiana 80 counties
- Iowa 40 counties
- Kansas 39 counties
- Kentucky 68 counties
- Louisiana 14 counties
- Maine 4 counties
- Michigan 47 counties
- Minnesota 59 counties
- Mississippi 3 counties
- Missouri 70 counties
- Nebraska 19 counties
- New Jersey 17 counties
- New York 54 counties
- North Carolina 43 counties
- North Dakota 8 counties
- Ohio 74 counties
- Oklahoma 11 counties
- Pennsylvania 64 counties
- Rhode Island 2 counties
- South Carolina 10 counties
- South Dakota 4 counties
- Tennessee 58 counties
- Texas 6 counties
- Vermont 12 counties
- Virginia 85 counties
- West Virginia 31 counties
- Wisconsin 64 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Active growth period
- Spring and Summer
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intermediate (sun to part shade)
- Moisture use
- Medium water use
- Drought tolerance
- Low
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 32 to 60 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse and medium
- pH range
- 5.5 to 7.2
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- Low
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 10 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −43°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3a and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- High
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Late Spring
- Foliage color
- Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Contracting Only
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- FESU3
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Festuca subverticillata (PLANTS symbol FESU3).
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources