Sisyrinchium angustifolium P. Miller. Common name: Common Blue-eyed-grass, Narrow-leaved Blue-eyed-grass, Stout Blue-eyed-grass. Phenology: Mar-Jul; Apr-Jul. Habitat: Woodlands, forests, meadows, longleaf pine sandhill swales. Distribution: VT, NH, and s. ON west to WI, e. KS, and OH, south to GA, AL, LA, and e. TX.
ID notes: Sisyrinchium angustifolium "is the most widespread Sisyrinchium in North America. It has broad (> 2 mm wide) branched stems with distinct wings and lacks fibrous remains of old leaves at the plant base. Its flowers are usually blue, rarely white. A similar wide-stemmed blue-eyed grass, Sisyrinchium nashii, differs by having fibrous bristles at the base. Herbarium specimens of the two species are easily identified by their foliage color; Sisyrinchium nashii dries yellowish-green or light olive green, whereas S. angustifolium usually is dark olive green to bronze." (Spaulding et al. 2023).
Origin/Endemic status: Native
Synonymy ⓘ: = Ar, C, Can, ETx1, F, FNA26, GW1, Il, K4, Mi, Mo1, NcTx, NE, NY, Pa, RAB, Tn, Tx, Va, W, WV, Hornberger (1991); = Sisyrinchium graminoides E.P.Bicknell — G, S, Tat; > Sisyrinchium angustifolium Mill. — S13; > Sisyrinchium graminoides E.P.Bicknell — S13; > Sisyrinchium membranaceum E.P.Bicknell — S13; > Sisyrinchium tenellum E.P.Bicknell — S13; Sisyrinchium angustifolium Mill. Basionym: Sisyrinchium angustifolium Mill. 1768
Links to other floras: = Sisyrinchium angustifolium - FNA26
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Wetland Indicator Status:
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FACW (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
- Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FACW (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
- Great Plains: FACW (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
- Midwest: FAC (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
- Northcentral & Northeast: FAC (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
Heliophily ⓘ: 7
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Horticultural Information
Intro: Erect, tufted perennial with grass-like leaves found in moist to dry woodlands, upland forests, floodplain forests, meadows and sandhill swales.
Stems: Stem flattened and narrowly winged, flexible and sometimes leaning, smooth, the base lacking fibrous remains of old leaves (see S. nashii).
Leaves: Leaves mostly basal, overlapping, linear and grass-like, to 14 in. long and less than 1/8 in. wide.
Inforescence:
Flowers: Flowers just a few in a ingle small cluster at top of scape; blue (occasionally white); less than 1/2 in. wide; consisting of 6 spreading tepals with rounded or notched tips and bearing a tiny tooth-like extension. Yellow markings at the base of each tepal create a yellow center in the blue "star."
Fruits: Fruit a round capsule.
Comments:
Height: 8-12 in.
plant sale text: This lovely perennial is actually not a grass at all, but rather shares the same family as Iris. The leaves of both Sisyrinchium and Iris overlay each other in a parallel fashion. Narrow-leaved Blue-eyed-grass grows into attractive grass-like clumps that produce numerous half-inch blue flowers with yellow centers on upright stems.
bloom table text:
description: Erect, tufted perennial with grass-like leaves found in moist to dry woodlands, upland forests, floodplain forests, meadows and sandhill swales.
stems: Stem flattened and narrowly winged, flexible and sometimes leaning, smooth, the base lacking fibrous remains of old leaves (see S. nashii).
leaves: Leaves mostly basal, overlapping, linear and grass-like, to 14 in. long and less than 1/8 in. wide.
inflorescence:
flowers: Flowers just a few in a ingle small cluster at top of scape; blue (occasionally white); less than 1/2 in. wide; consisting of 6 spreading tepals with rounded or notched tips and bearing a tiny tooth-like extension. Yellow markings at the base of each tepal create a yellow center in the blue "star."
fruits: Fruit a round capsule.
comments:
cultural notes:
germination code: 2
native range: eastern United States
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