THIS IS A DRAFT
The species account below is an early version, drafted around 2003. It has been provided here to aid understanding, but please be aware it may not fully tally with the up-to-date map and statistics shown below.
Festuca ovina sens.str.
Sheep's Fescue
Species Details
Sheep’s Fescue is a tufted native perennial of dry unproductive grasslands on both acid and calcareous soils. It is very common throughout the South West Peak, the Dark Peak, the White Peak and parts of the Peak Fringe. Here it is locally dominant over large areas of limestone dale sides and the lower slopes of rough hill grazings. Elsewhere throughout our area it is only occasional. Three subspecies, all native, have been recorded. The common Derbyshire plant is subspecies Xxovina. Subspecies Xxhirtula has been recorded once from Snake Plantation (SK1091), and subspecies Xxophioliticola is given for Derbyshire (v.c.57) by Wilkinson & Stace (1991) but for pre-1970. (Use map for F. ovina agg. Here)