544 



IRIDACEAE. 



VOL. I. 



4. Sisyrinchium mucronatum Michx. Mich- 



aux's Blue-eyed Grass. Fig. 1346. 



5. mucronatum Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2: 33. 1803. 



S. intermedium Bicknell, Bull. Torr. Club 26: 498. 1899. 



More caespitose than S. angustifolium and decidedly 

 more slender and delicate, with smaller spathes and cap- 

 sules, sometimes scarcely glaucescent and the spathes 

 often bright red-purple. Stem and leaves from capil- 

 laceous to I" wide, rarely wider, the stems narrowly 

 winged or merely margined ; bracts thin, glabrous, 

 hyaline-margined, the outer one slenderly prolonged, 

 united-clasping at base; inner bracts scarious, obtuse 

 to attenuate, gradually emerging from the outer one, 

 flowers deep violet-blue, rarely white, 3 "-7" long; cap- 

 sules pale and thin-walled, subglobose to obovate- 

 oblong, i "-2" high, on slender subspreading exserted 

 pedicels. 



Fields and meadows, Massachusetts to Michigan, Penn- 

 sylvania and Virginia. May-June. 



5. Sisyrinchium campestre Bicknell. Prairie 

 Blue-eyed Grass. Fig. 1347. 



S. campestre Bicknell, Bull. Torr. Club 26: 341. 1899. 

 S. campestre kansanum Bicknell, loc. cit. 344. 1899. 



Similar to S. mucronatum Michx., but often stiffer 

 and more glaucous, with always smooth-edged stems 

 and leaves, usually broader, more gibbous spathes, and 

 pale blue or frequently white flowers. Stem i"-i" 

 wide, the leaves rather broader; spathes green to dull 

 pink-purple, the bracts commonly scabrous-puberulent 

 all over, but sometimes glabrous, the outer one usually 

 less slenderly prolonged than in 6\ iiiiicrouatiiin, and 

 not united-clasping at base, or but slightly so, i'-2 r 

 long, rarely more than twice longer than the inner 

 bract, which emerges more abruptly from the base of 

 the spathe than in S. mucronatum, and has more 

 broadly hyaline edges; capsules pale, trigonous-sub- 

 globose, I "-2" high. 



Prairies, Wisconsin to Missouri, Louisiana, North Da- 

 kota, Kansas and New Mexico. May-June. 



6. Sisyrinchium arenicola Bicknell. Sand 

 Blue-eyed Grass. Fig. '1348. 



5". arenicola Bicknell, Bull. Torr. Club 26: 496. 1899. 



Deep green or glaucescent, often purplish-tinged, 

 the base of the tufts coarsely fibrous. Leaves stiff, 

 attenuate, i"-ii" wide, closely striate, usually serru- 

 late ; stem erect, often curved, 8'-2o' high, stiff, the 

 firm wings striate, mostly serrulate ; node commonly 

 only one, its erect leaf conspicuous, attenuate-acute, 

 the compressed broadened base strongly striate; 

 peduncles 2-4, curved ; spathes erect, the acute bracts 

 firm and strongly striate, slightly unequal; flowers 

 sometimes as many as 12, deep violet-blue, 4"-5 

 long; capsules dark and thick-walled on erect slightly 

 exserted pedicels, broadly oval or obovoid, 2" -3" 

 high. 



Sandy soil, Massachusetts to New Jersey and North 

 Carolina, mostly near the coast. June-July. 



Sisyrinchium Farwellii Bicknell, known only from 

 southeastern Michigan, differs in not turning black in 

 drying and has flexuous rather than straight pedicels and 

 slightly smaller capsules. 



