Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center


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Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains

68. Iridaceae, the Iris Family

1. Sisyrinchium L. -- Blue-eyed grass

1. Sisyrinchium montanum Greene

Fibrous-rooted perennial 1-4.5 dm tall, often tufted, with mostly basal, grasslike leaves 1-3 mm wide and scapose inflorescences, the plants glaucescent, drying pale, sometimes purplish at the base; scapes narrowly to broadly winged, 1.5-3 mm wide. Inflorescence of 1-several flowers, terminal on the scape, subtended by a 2-bracted spathe, the outer bract (2.5)3.5-6(8.5) cm long, mostly 1.5-3X longer than the inner bract, the margins of the outer bract united for 1-3 mm above the base. Flowers blue-violet with a yellow center, perfect, regular; perianth of 6 membranous tepals (5)7-14 mm long, apiculate to emarginate at the tip; stamens 3, united by their filaments around the style; style 3-branched, ovary inferior, 3-celled, globose. Fruit a subglobose, loculicidal capsule, pale to stramineous, 4-7 mm in diameter; seeds many, black, globular, shallowly pitted. Late May--Jul. Wet meadows, ditches, swales and floodplains, also in drier situations; ND and e MT, s to NE and e WY, most common in the n and w parts; (Que. to AK, s to NY, IN, IA, KS and CO).

S. montanum belongs to a complex of closely related species which includes the eastern S. angustifolium and several western species. Although S. angustifolium has been attributed to our region, my attempts to discern it among plants of the northern plains have been unsuccessful. A few white-flowered dwarf plants from nw ND do not fit S. montanum well, nor any other species attributed to the region.

Also occurring in the extreme e and s parts of the region is S. campestre, white-eyed grass. Although occasionally found in wet meadows, this plant is more characteristic of mesic sites, especially in tallgrass prairie. It is easily distinguished from S. montanum by its white to light blue-violet flowers and the fact that the margins of the outer spathe bract are free to the base. The plant is generally smaller and earlier flowering than S. montanum.

Sisyrinchium montanum.

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Return to Family -- Iridaceae - The Iris Family

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Page Last Modified: Thursday, 03-Aug-2006 11:46:35 EDT
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