Sisyrinchium montanum |
Sisyrinchium groenlandicum |
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Bermudienne montagnarde, mountain blue-eyed-grass, strict blue-eyed-grass |
Greenland blueeyed grass |
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Habit | Herbs, perennial, cespitose, pale to olive green or dark brown to bronze when dry, to 5 dm, not glaucous; rhizomes scarcely discernable. | Herbs, perennial, cespitose, green to olive or dark olive when dry, to 3.3 dm, not glaucous; rhizomes scarcely discernable. | ||||
Stems | simple, obviously winged, (1.5–)2–3.7 mm wide, glabrous, margins entire (in eastern populations) to denticulate (in western populations) apically, similar in color and texture to stem body. |
simple, often with purplish tinge apically, 1–2 mm wide, glabrous, margins entire, similar in color and texture to stem body. |
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Leaf | blades glabrous, bases not persistent in fibrous tufts. |
blades glabrous, bases not persistent in fibrous tufts. |
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Inflorescences | borne singly; spathes usually green or bronze, rarely with purplish margins, glabrous, keels usually denticulate; outer 36–76 mm, 12–46 mm longer than inner, slightly constricted proximal to apex, margins basally connate 2–5.7 mm; inner with keel ± gibbous basally, sinuous proximally, hyaline margins 0.1–0.3 mm wide, apex acuminate to acute, ending 0.9–4.3 mm proximal to recurved green apex. |
borne singly; spathes tinged purplish, at least on hyaline margins, glabrous, keels entire; outer 25.4–44 mm, 10.9–23.3 mm longer than inner, usually tapering evenly towards apex, margins basally connate 1–2.5 mm; inner with keel evenly curved to straight, hyaline margins 0.3–0.6 mm wide, apex acute to acuminate, ending 0.3–1.6 mm proximal to green apex. |
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Flowers | tepals dark bluish violet, bases yellow; outer tepals 9–14.5 mm, apex emarginate to retuse, aristate; filaments connate ± entirely, stipitate-glandular basally; ovary similar in color to foliage. |
tepals pale blue to whitish, bases yellow; outer tepals 5.7–10.3 mm, apex rounded, aristate; filaments connate ± entirely, glabrous or slightly stipitate-glandular basally; ovary similar in color to foliage. |
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Capsules | tan to dark brown, sometimes with purplish tinge apically, ± globose to obovoid, 4–6.8 mm; pedicel erect to spreading. |
dark brown to black, slightly turbinate to subglobose, 2.8–6.5 mm; pedicel usually ascending. |
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Seeds | globose to obconic, lacking obvious depression, 0.9–1.5 mm, rugulose. |
globose to obconic, lacking obvious depression, 0.7–1.2 mm, granular. |
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2n | = 32. |
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Sisyrinchium montanum |
Sisyrinchium groenlandicum |
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Phenology | Flowering summer. | |||||
Habitat | Southerly exposures in steppe/heath vegetation | |||||
Elevation | 30–300 m (100–1000 ft) | |||||
Distribution |
North America
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Greenland |
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Discussion | Varieties 2 (2 in the flora). Eastern coastal populations of Sisyrinchium montanum appear to have some slight affinity to S. angustifolium (e.g., long connation of outer spathe) and some previous floras have combined the two taxa. Some taxonomists have questioned the recognition of varieties within S. montanum, but we feel that the differences between them are no more subtle than those between varieties generally recognized elsewhere in the genus. Living material was not available to us to investigate breeding barriers. Although Sisyrinchium montanum is considered weedy by D. T. Patterson et al. (1989), I have seen many populations all through the western states and Great Lakes areas and would not consider it weedy in any of these portions of the range. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 366. | FNA vol. 26, p. 371. | ||||
Parent taxa | Iridaceae > Sisyrinchium | Iridaceae > Sisyrinchium | ||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||
Name authority | Greene: Pittonia 4: 33. (1899) | Böcher: Bot. Tidsskr. 61: 286, figs. 3a, e–i, 5–7. (1966) | ||||
Web links |