GENUS 4. 



IRIS FAMILY. 



545 



Sisyrinchium graminoides Bicknell. 

 Blue-eyed Grass. Fig. 1349. 



Stout 



Sisyrinchium anceps S. Wats, in A. Gray, Man. Ed. 6, 



515. 1890. Not Cav. 



S. graminoides Bicknell, Bull. Torr. Club 23: 133. 1896. 

 S. gramincuin Curtis, Bot. Mag. pi. 464. 1789. Not Lam. 



Rather light green, somewhat glaucous; stem 

 broadly 2-winged, stout, erect, or reclining, 8'-i8' 

 tall, usually terminating in two unequal branches 

 subtended by a conspicuous grassy leaf. Basal leaves 

 equalling or shorter than the stem, i"~3" wide; 

 often lax and grass-like; edges of stems and leaves 

 usually perceptibly rough-serrulate; bracts i' long 

 or less, green, nearly or quite equal but the outer one 

 occasionally prolonged ; umbels 2-4-flowered ; pedi- 

 cels filiform, 8"-i2" long, exceeding the bracts, finally 

 often spreading or recurved; flowers 6"-o/' broad; 

 petals sparsely pubescent on outer surface ; capsule 

 subglobose, 2i"-3" in diameter when mature ; seeds 

 black, globose, about i"-" in diameter, pitted. 



In grassy places, in moist or dry soil, sometimes in 

 woods, Nova Scotia to Florida, Minnesota, Arkansas and 

 Texas. Santo Domingo. Plant dark in drying. Pepper-grass. 



April-June. 



8. Sisyrinchium strictum Bicknell. Strict 

 Blue-eyed Grass. Fig. 1356. 



5". strictum Bicknell, Bull. Torr. Club 26: 299. 1899. 



About i high in erect tufts, not fibrose at base, 

 pale light green and glaucous, not changing color 

 when dry. Stems and leaves i"-i" wide, mostly 

 serrulate, the leaves thin, tapering-acute, over half 

 the height of the stems ; node only one, its erect leaf 

 closely united-clasping below, subequal with the two 

 short approximate peduncles ; spathes erect, narrow, 

 8"-io" long, the bracts subequal, sharp-pointed ; 

 flowers rather small, deep violet-blue; capsules pale 

 and thin-walled, somewhat obovoid, about 2" high, on 

 suberect, slightly exserted margined pedicels. 



In sandy soil, Montcalm Co., Mich. June. 



9. Sisyrinchium atlanticum Bicknell. East- 

 ern Blue-eyed Grass. Fig. 1351. 



5". atlanticum Bicknell, Bull. Torr. Club 23 : 134. 1896. 

 S. apiculatum Bicknell, Bull. Torr. Club 26 : 300. 1899. 



Glaucous-green, tufted, not drying black, the 

 stem slender, rather narrowly 2-winged, very 

 smooth-edged, sometimes 2 long, and reclining, 

 terminating in two or three mostly subequal 

 branches, often also with one or two lateral ones ; 

 peduncles slender and wiry, often- recurved and 

 forming a distinct angle with the floral bracts. 

 Leaves rarely over i" wide, the basal ones usually 

 much shorter than the stem ; bracts nearly or 

 quite equal, narrow, mostly somewhat scarious, 

 often purplish ; flowers 3" -6" long; capsules thick- 

 walled, on generally erect pedicels 7"-io" long, 

 oval, i "-2" long and f"-ii ' in diameter, some- 

 times apiculate ; seeds oval, subglobose, \"-\" in 

 diameter, dark, faintly pitted or nearly smooth. 



In moist fields, meadows and brackish marshes, 

 often in sandy soil, Maine to Florida and Mississippi. 

 Also in Michigan. Pepper-grass. May-June. 



35 



