Sisyrinchium atlanticum
Sisyrinchium mucronatum
eastern blue-eyed-grass
needle-tip blue-eyed-grass
branched, with 1 or 2 nodes, 0.8–1.9 mm wide, usually glabrous, margins entire, similar in color and texture to stem body;
first internode 11–36 cm, longer than leaves;
distalmost node with 2–3 branches.
simple, often purplish, almost wiry, with very narrow or scarcely discernable wings, 0.9–2 mm wide, usually glabrous, margins usually entire to denticulate apically, similar in color and texture to stem body.
blades usually glabrous, bases occasionally becoming fibrous, but not persistent in tufts.
blades usually glabrous, bases not persistent in fibrous tufts.
borne singly;
spathes green or occasionally with purplish tinge on margins, obviously wider than supporting branch, glabrous or slightly scabrous, keels entire;
outer 12–16.1 mm, 1.4 mm shorter to 1.5 mm longer than inner, tapering evenly towards apex, margins basally connate 3–5.2 mm;
inner with keel evenly curved or straight, hyaline margins 0.2–0.6 mm wide, apex broadly rounded to truncate, usually erose, ending 0–0.5 mm proximal to green apex or, occasionally, exceeding it by up to 0.5 mm.
borne singly;
spathes mostly purplish, glabrous to slightly scabrous (in southern populations), keels entire;
outer 34–52 mm, 14–31 mm longer than inner, usually tapering evenly towards apex, margins basally connate (0.7–)1–2.7 mm;
inner with keel evenly curved to occasionally gibbous basally, hyaline margins 0.1–0.3 mm wide, apex acuminate to acute, ending 0.5–3.2 mm proximal to green apex.
tepals light blue or bluish violet to purple or occasionally white, bases yellow;
outer tepals 6.3–11 mm, apex emarginate to truncate, aristate;
filaments connate ± entirely, stipitate-glandular basally;
ovary blackish, in contrast with much lighter foliage.
tepals dark blue or bluish violet, occasionally white, bases yellow;
outer tepals 9–12.5 mm, apex emarginate to rounded, aristate;
filaments connate ± entirely, stipitate-glandular basally;
ovary similar in color to foliage.
dark brown to black or purplish black, ± globose to obovoid, 2–4.1 mm;
pedicel ascending to erect.
tan to light brown with purplish tinge apically, ± globose, 3.2–5.5 mm;
pedicel spreading to erect.
globose to obconic, lacking obvious depression, 0.5–1.2 mm, rugulose or occasionally granular.
globose to obconic, lacking obvious depression, 0.8–1.5 mm, usually granular.
= 16, 32.
= 32.
Sisyrinchium atlanticum
Sisyrinchium mucronatum
Sisyrinchium mucronatum can be a difficult species to identify, especially in the north. Herbarium specimens seem to indicate that morphologically it may approach S. septentrionale in central Canada, and narrow specimens of S. montanum in the northeast. Fresh material, however, reveals that S. septentrionale tends to have much paler flowers with no emarginate apices and much longer outer spathes, and that S. montanum usually has much wider stems, leaves, and bracts, and the outer tepals have emarginate to retuse apices. Southeastern populations of S. mucronatum tend to be more scabrous while northwestern populations have less purple in the spathes.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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