YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 



(blue) (blue or white) 



31 



BLUE-EYED GRASS 



Iris (Iris). This beautiful flower, close kin to the 

 old-fashioned ''flag" of our grandmothers' gardens, is 

 frequent in the Park along the stream courses. The 

 light-green leaves, rising from the thick underground 

 rootstock, are folded inward and the inner sides pressed 

 so firmly together that they seem to grow that way. 

 The leaves thus present a very stiff sword-like appear- 

 ance, with the edges instead of the sides toward the 

 flower-stem. The stem is longer than the leaves, bear- 

 ing one or two flowers. The petals are considerably 

 more slender and delicate than those of the cultivated 

 iris, and are blue or light purple in color, marked with 

 yellow. 



Blue-Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium) . Blue-eyed grass 

 belongs to the iris family. It is found in moist, but 

 not wet, places throughout the Park, blossoming during 

 the earlier part of the summer. The leaves are about 

 three or four inches long, grass-like and stiff, with 

 their edges toward the stem. The stem, about a 

 fourth longer than the leaves, is flattened, sometimes 

 having thin wings or extended edges. Each stem 

 bears from one to three six-pointed, star-shaped flow- 

 ers a little less than one-half inch across, and ranging 

 in color from deep blue to white. 



