Needle-tip Blue-eyed Grass

(Sisyrinchium mucronatum)

 

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Needle-tip Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium mucronatum)

Identification: Plant grasslike. Flowers blue, with 6 petals, each petal with a spine at its tip. Center of flower and stamens yellow. Fruit a small, round pod. Flowers and fruit on short peduncles (stalks). Flowers arranged in small clusters, the base of the cluster with a leaflike bract (spathe). Spathe tinged with purple. All stems unbranched. Leaves and stem narrow, wiry. Plant 4 to 24 inches in height.

Distribution: Throughout most of eastern North America.

Habitat: Needle-tip Blue-eyed Grass is found in fields, meadows, and along roadsides.

Flowering period: May to June.

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

Needle-tip Blue-eyed Grass
(Sisyrinchium mucronatum)

Similar Species: 

The species of Sisyrinchium can be very difficult to distinguish from each other. The genus includes several species not included in this treatment. Needle-tip Blue-eyed Grass is usually easy to identify because of the purplish tinged spathes at the bases of the flower clusters.

Similar Species

No Similar Species