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This is a coarse introduced grass. It is very similar in appearance to the introduced Festuca arundinacea (Tall Fescue), which used to be considered a variety of Meadow Fescue, rather than a distinct species. Tall Fescue is a more robust grass that has 4-5 lemmas per spikelet; each of its lemmas is about 8 mm. long. In contrast, Meadow Fescue has more lemmas per spikelet (5-11) and its lemmas are shorter (about 6 mm. long). Other Festuca spp. (Fescue Grasses) in Illinois are smaller grasses with narrow leaf blades (2 mm. or less) and/or shorter lemmas (5 mm. or less); unlike Meadow Fescue, some of these species have conspicuous awns. An older scientific name of Meadow Fescue is Festuca elatior.