Six-weeks Fescue
Festuca octoflora
Also listed as Vulpia octoflora
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 47%
- Height
- Culms are solitary or in small tufts [77,176,206,208,232] that are 3.1 to 23 inches tall.

At a glance
Not yet recorded · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 34 Florida counties.
Who uses this plant?
7CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Festuca
- Acrolophus popeanellaClemen's Grass Tubeworm
- Agrotis ipsilonIpsilon Dart, Black Cutworm, Greasy Cutworm
- Atalopedes huronSachem
- Cisseps fulvicollisYellow-Collared Scape Moth
- Pediasia trisectaSod Webworm Moth, Larger Sod Webworm
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera ornithogalliYellow-Striped Armyworm Moth, Cotton Cutworm
6BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Festuca
- Alectoris chukarChukar
- Calcarius lapponicusLapland Longspur
- Meleagris gallopavoWild Turkey
- Plectrophenax nivalisSnow Bunting
- Spizella pusillaField Sparrow
- Zenaida macrouraMourning Dove
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
1AntsRecorded seed interactions
- Pogonomyrmex occidentalis
Pogonomyrmex occidentalis: Seed predation.
Pogonomyrmex occidentalis: Seed predation.
No records yet · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Poaceae
What its natural habitat tells you
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Height · “Culms are solitary or in small tufts [77,176,206,208,232] that are 3.1 to 23 inches (8-59 cm) tall.” · Fire Effects Information System: Vulpia octoflora · Source botanical description; original units and scope retained
Also known as
Six Weeks Fescue; Vulpia octoflora
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications

