IRIS FAMILY 



467 



4. Sisyrinchium bellum S. Wats. California Blue-eyed Grass. Fig. 1143. 



Sisvrinchium bcllnm S. Wats, i'roc. Am. Acad. 12: 227. 

 '1876. 



Bermudiana bclhi Greene, Man. Bay Region 308. 1894. 



SisYi'iitchiiim grecuei Bick. Bull. Tonev Club 31 : 383. 



"1904. 

 Sisvi'iiichiiiin castu'oodiac Bick. Bull. Torrev Clul) 31: 



385. 1904. 

 Sisvyiiichiiim hest^erium Bick. Bull. Torrey Club 31: 390. 



"1904. 



Sisxrinchitim iiwi'itiiiuiiii Heller, Muhlenbergia 1 : 48. 

 "1904. 



Stems 10-50 cm. high or more, smooth or cilio- 

 late-scabrous on the narrowly winged margins, 

 with 1-3 nodes, each node bearing 1-4 peduncles. 

 Leaves about half the length of the stem, 2-4 mm. 

 wide ; peduncles equalling or surpassing the nodal 

 leaf; perianth violet-purple, 10-15 mm. long; the 

 segments truncate-emarginate and aristulate ; 

 stamineal column 3-5 mm. long ; capsule 3-4 mm. 

 long, brownish green. 



Common- on grassy hillsides either in heavy or sandy 

 soil. Upper Sonoran and Transition Zones; throughout 

 California from Shasta and Humboldt Counties to Lower 

 California. Type locality: not indicated. 



Sisyrinchium macoiinii Bick. Bull. Torrey Club 27: 245. 1900. Stems simple, leafless, with a sessile 

 spathe, or rarely with a leaf-bearing node and a solitary peduncle, 30-50 cm. high, very slender and scarcely 

 winged, 1-1.5 mm. wide. Leaves mostly 20-30 mm. long, attenuate at ape.x; pedicles slender and glabrous; 

 perianth segments 20 mm. long, emarginate and slenderly aristulate; anthers 2 mm. long. 



Known only from the type locality, Coma.x, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. 



Sisyrinchium funereum Bick. Bull. Torrey Club 31 : 387. 1904. Stem pale glaucous green, stiffly erect, 

 50-60 cm. liigli, 2 — 1.5 mm. wide, narrowly margined, smooth, bearing a solitary node. Leaves about half the 

 length of the stem, 2-3.5 mm. wide, the one at the node stiff, 4-10 cm. long; peduncles 2 or 3 ; spathes 18-25 

 mm. long, the' outer bract scarcely equalling the inner; flowers often 12-18; perianth-segments 12-14 mm. 

 long, mucronate at apex; capsules light colored, 3-6 mm. broad. 



A little known species, based on a single collection, Furnace Creek Cafion, Funeral Mountains, California. 



3. OLSYNIUM Raf. New Fl. Am. 1: 72. 1836. 



Perennial tufted herbs with the general habit of Sisyrinchium; rootstocks very short, 

 bearing coarse fibrous roots. Stems simple erect with a few leaves toward the base, com- 

 pressed but not winged. Basal leaves with much reduced blades and bract-like. Spathe 

 solitary and terminal with two very unequal bracts, the outer much elongated and foliaceous. 

 Flowers usually 1 or 2, reddish purple. Perianth-segment's similar, obtuse or apiculate, 

 neither aristulate nor emarginate. Stamens with their filaments united only at the base. 

 Styles cleft at the apex, much exceeding the stamens. Capsule broadly oblong or sub- 

 globose. Seeds many rounded, dark colored, finely pitted. 



A monotypic genus. 



1. Olsynium douglasii (A. Dietr. ) Bick. 

 Purple-eyed Grass. Fig. 1144. 



Sisyrinchium gmndifionim Dtugl.; Lindl. B'ot. Reg. 16: pi. 1.^64. 1830. 



not Cav. 1790. 

 Sisyrinchium douglasii A. -Dietr. Sp. PI. 2: 504. 1833. 

 Olsynium graudiflorum Raf. New. Fl. Am. 1: 71. 1836. 

 Olsynium douglasii Bick. Bull. Torrey Club 27: 237. 1900. 



Stems 15-30 cm. high, 2-i mm. wide, naked above the 

 middle. Basal leaves bract-like with much reduced blades, 

 1 or 2 with blades 2-15 mm. long, stiffly erect, the 

 long sheathing base scarious on the margins; spathe solitary, 

 terminal ; outer bract long-attenuate, 5-12 cm. long, far sur- 

 passing the flowers or rarely reduced and shorter than the 

 pedicels; inner bracts shorter than the pedicels or but slightly ex- 

 ceeding them, obtuse; perianth-segments 15-20 mm. long, 

 oblong-obovate, 5-nerved ; stamens about two-thirds the 

 length of the segments ; anthers orange-colored, 3-4 mm. long ; 

 capsule 6-8 mm. long, often tinged with purple; seeds 2 mm. 

 long. 



Open grassy places, mainly Arid Transition Zone; British Columbia 

 to northern Xevada and northern California. Type locality: Celilo Falls, 

 Columbia River, Washington. 



