GENUS 4. 



IRIS FAMILY. 



543 



i. Sisyrinchium hastile Bicknell. Spear-like 

 Blue-eyed Grass. Fig. 1343. 



S. hostile Bicknell, Bull. Torr. Club 26: 297. 1899. 



^Very slender and stiffly erect, dull green, about i 

 high. Stems i" wide or less, compressed-subterete 

 and bluntly two-edged, not at all winged, closely 

 striate, minutely granulose-roughened ; leaves similar 

 to the stems, usually shorter, thick-edged, obtusely 

 slender-pointed, the conduplicate broadened base 

 smooth and membranous; spathes usually two in a 

 close pair at the top of the stem, each usually 4- 

 bracted, the bracts lanceolate-attenuate, the inner 

 ones about i' long; primary bract much prolonged; 

 interior scales ample, sometimes slightly exserted; 

 flowers few, pedicels not longer than the inner bracts ; 

 young capsule longer than thick. Fruit and color of 

 flower unknown. 



Sandy shores of Belle Isle in the Detroit River, Mich. 

 Much resembles S. Pringlei Rob. & Greenm. from Ja- 

 lisco, Mexico. Early June. 



2. Sisyrinchium albidum Raf. White Blue-eyed Grass. Fig. 1344. 



S. albidum Raf. Atl. Journ. 17. 1832. 



S. versicolor Bicknell, Bull. Torr. Club 26 : 606. 



1899. 



Green and glaucescent, the spathes often purplish, 

 2 high or less. Leaves half the height of the stems 

 or longer, i"-2" wide, very acute, mostly smooth- 

 edged ; stems usually broadly winged, the edges serru- 

 late to smooth; spathes sessile in a close terminal 

 pair, the prominent outer bract i '-3' long, its edges 

 free to the base; inner bracts acuminate, often cilio- 

 late on the keel, much shorter than the outer; flowers 

 white to pale blue; 4"-6" long; capsules pale, de- 

 pressed-subglobose, i"-ii" high, on erect-spreading 

 pedicels usually shorter than the inner bracts ; seeds 

 globose, \" or less in diameter, umbilicate, distinctly 

 pitted. 



Grassy places, Ontario to Wisconsin, Ohio, North Caro- 

 lina, Arkansas and Mississippi. Also in Connecticut and 

 in southern New York, apparently introduced. April- 

 June. 



Sisyrinchium flaviflorum Bicknell, is a little known, 

 yellow flowered species from Missouri, perhaps 5". cam- 

 pestre with yellow flowers, as suggested by Mr. B. F. 

 Bush, the collector. 



3. Sisyrinchium angustifolium Mill. Pointed 

 Blue-eyed Grass. Fig. 1345. 



5\ angustifolium Mill. Gard. Diet. Ed. 8. 1768 

 S. montanum Greene, Pittonia 4: 33. 1899. 



Stiff and erect, pale and glaucous, 4'-2 high. Leases 

 half the height of the stem or longer, i"-2" wide, acute, 

 the edges minutely serrulate ; stem simple or rarely 

 branched, winged, the edges minutely serrulate; spathes 

 green or slightly purplish, the outer bract rarely less 

 than twice the length of the inner one, 2^' long or less, 

 obscurely hyaline-margined, united-clasping at base ; 

 inner bract attenuate; flowers deep violet-blue, s"-6" 

 long; capsules broadly oval to globose, 2"-3" high, 

 dull brown to whitish, often purplish-tinged, on erect 

 pedicels usually shorter than the inner bract. 



Fields and hillsides, Newfoundland to Saskatchewan, 

 British Columbia, Virginia, Nebraska, Colorado and Utah. 

 Blue-eyed Mary. Star-eyed grass. Grass-flower. Pigroot. 

 Blue-grass. May-July. 



Sisyrinchium septentrionale Bicknell, a diminutive species 

 with large capsules, enters our northwestern limits in North 

 Dakota. 



