Prairie blue-eyed grass

Description

Sisyrinchium campestre, the prairie blue-eyed grass or white-eyed grass, is a small herbaceous perennial plant in the iris family, native to prairie and meadow in the central United States and in extreme southern Manitoba. Prairie blue-eyed grass is one of the more drought tolerant species in the genus. It blooms in late spring and early summer for about three weeks. The flowers are white to pale blue, with yellow centers. They have six tepals 7 to 12.7 mm (0.28 to 0.50 in) long that have rounded ends with a sharp point in the center. The flowers are borne on slender pedicels (stems) in an umbel enclosed in two bracts at the top of an unbranched flat stem. The leaves are grass-like, 3 to 10 inches (8 to 25 cm) long and 2 to 3 mm (0.08 to 0.12 in) across, and the flower stem is about as long as or a little longer than the leaves. The root system is coarse and fibrous. A plant produces offsets and forms a dense clump over time. Sisyrinchium is a large genus of annual to perennial flowering plant in the family Iridaceae. Native to the New World, the species are known as blue-eyed grasses and, though not true grasses and in varieties with flower colors other than blue, are monocots. Several species in the eastern United States are threatened or endangered. These are not true grasses, but many species have the general appearance of grasses, as they are low-growing plants with long, thin leaves. They often grow on grasslands. Many species resemble irises, to which they are more closely related. Most species grow as perennial plants, from a rhizome, though some are short-lived (e.g. S. striatum), and some are annuals (e.g. S. iridifolium). The flowers are relatively simple and often grow in clusters. Many species, particularly the South American ones, are not blue, despite the common name. The genus includes species with blue, white, yellow, and purple petals, often with a contrasting centre. Of the species in the United States, the Western Blue-eyed Grass, Sisyrinchium bellum, is sometimes found with white flowers, while the California Golden-eyed Grass, Sisyrinchium californicum, has yellow flowers.