Southern Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Sisyrinchium atlanticum Bickn.
- Family: Iris (Iridaceae)
- Flowering: April-June
- Field Marks: This species is distinguished by its tufted branching stems, very slender flower stalks, blue-green leaves and stems, and flattened spathes from which the flower arises.
- Habitat: Open situations with wet to moist soils.
- Habit: Perennial herb with short rootstocks.
- Stems: Tufted, upright or reclining, slender, narrowly 2-winged, smooth, branched above, blue-green, up to 2 feet tall.
- Leaves: Basal and alternate, very slender, up to 1/12 inch wide, the lowest not longer than the stem, blue-green, smooth.
- Flowers: Subtended by a pair of equal green or purplish bracts, on erect stalks up to 3/4 inch long.
- Perianth: 6 segments, blue with a yellow center, occasionally white, rounded at the tip but usually with a central projection, up to 1/3 inch long.
- Stamens: 6, united below.
- Pistils: Ovary inferior.
- Fruits: Capsules spherical, up to 1/4 inch in diameter, smooth, becoming dark green or black at maturity, with several oval, dark seeds.
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