A GUIDE TO THE WILD FLOWERS 17 



47. Blue-eyed Grass. Sisyrinchium albidum. Scarcely 2 ft. 

 tall, often bluish-green. Leaves half as high as the winged 

 stems, scarcely ys in. wide, the edges often roughened. 

 Flowers pale blue to whitish, not over y^ in. wide. Spathes 

 stalkless, in pairs. Pod nearly round, about ys in. diameter. 

 May. Meadows. Ontario to N. Car. west to Wisconsin, Ar- 

 kansas, and Mississippi, apparently introduced into Conn, and 

 New York. Fig. 47. 



48. Blue-eyed Grass. Sisyrinchium angiistifolium. Similar 

 but with the edges of the leaf always minutely roughened. 

 Flowers deep violet-blue. Spathes solitary, or if more than 

 one, always stalked. Stem nearly always unbranched. June. 

 Meadows. Newfoundland to Virginia, and westward. 



49. Blue-eyed Grass. Sisyrinchium arcnicola. Stem erect, 

 10-20 in. tall, usually branched above, the whole plant turn- 

 ing dark in drying. Leaves green or bluish-green, fibrous at 

 the base. Flowers numerous, deep violet-blue, nearly ^ in. 

 wide. Pod broadly oval, not quite ^ in. thick. June-July. 

 New England to N. Car., especially in coastal marshes. 



50. Blue-eyed Grass. Sisyrinchium graminoides (S. gra- 

 mineum..) Similar to the preceding, but not fibrous at the 

 base, with wider leaves (up to % in.), and larger in all its 

 parts. Turning dark in drying. May. Nova Scotia to Florida, 

 and westward. Our commonest species. Fig. 50. A salt marsh 

 relative, Sisyrinchium atlanticum, differs in having the stem 

 less prominently winged, and is found from Maine to Florida. 



51. SPIDERWORTS. DAY-FLOWER. 

 TRADESCANTIA. COM M ELI N A 



Leafy herbs with swollen joints and usually very fleeting 

 flowers, in scanty clusters, or solitary, beneath which is a 

 leaf-like veiny spathe, or in some species, a large leafy bract. 

 (See Fig. 55.) Petals 3, always blue, in some species 2 larger 

 and a smaller one. Fruit a dry pod. (Coinmelinaceac.) 



With 2 large petals and a small one; spathe usually shell-shaped. 

 Margins of the spathe not joined 



(see Fig. 52) Common Day-flower no. 52 



Margins of the spathe joined at the base (see 



