This "tall fescue" has been widely planted across temperate North America. It is frequently impossible to distinguish planted from naturalized records. In Ky. the species was first used for initial trials during the 1890s, under the names F. elatior L. and "English blue-grass" (Gm). Gm noted: "In the quality of durability we have nothing that surpasses it... It is frequently grown in this part of the State, but is perhaps not made use of as much as it should be... It is both nutritious and palatable." During the 1930s, the Univ. of Ky. selected the cultivar known as "Kentucky 31" that became widely sown in the 1940s and 1950s, but its limitations for livestock due to toxins from a fungal endopyte eventually became apparent (Hoveland 2007). Endophyte infection varies much, and may be less on some drier soils (e.g., Hall et al. 2012). The monotonous structure of fescue-dominated fields is generally poor for wildlife; the decline of quail, in particular, appears to have been caused in part by conversion of old fields and pastures to fescue (e.g. Osborne et al. 2012). The taxonomy of arundinacea and pratensis has become clarified during recent decades (F, Cr, FNA 24, W). The two species were confused in older literature, but are now generally considered distinct. F. arundinacea can be distinguished from pratensis by its ciliate auricles, slightly scabrid-hispid rachillas and lemma veins (versus usually glabrous). Also, it typically has more strongly nerved to aristate lemmas, more branched panicles, wider glossier leaves, old sheaths paler (stramineous versus brown) and often remaining intact (versus decaying to fibers), and taller overall height. It includes a polyploid series (2n = 28-70), while pratensis is only diploid (2n = 14). T. Phillips (Univ. of Ky., Dept. of Agronomy) has various living accessions of both species. Alternative generic assignments include Schedonorus (a narrow concept) and Lolium (in a broad concept); hybrids between the pratensis group and Lolium spp. are documented in Europe. S. phoenix (Scop.) Holub has recently been adopted by PL to replace arundinacea, but the correct name should be S. arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort., according to M. Barkworth (online update for FNA 24).