The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Bermudienne montagnarde, mountain blue-eyed-grass, strict blue-eyed-grass

Nevada blue-eyed-grass

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 ashy olive when dry, to 2.6 dm, often strongly 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, 0.5–3 mm wide, glabrous, margins entire, similar in color and texture to stem body.

Leaf

blades glabrous, bases not persistent in fibrous tufts.

blades glabrous, bases not persistent in fibrous tufts.

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 usually green, glabrous, keels entire;

outer 13–27 mm, equaling or 3 mm longer than inner, tapering evenly towards apex, margins basally connate 2.7–5.5 mm;

inner with keel evenly curved to straight, hyaline margins 0.40.6 mm wide, apex broadly rounded or truncate, often erose, often extending as 2 lobes beyond green apex.

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 light to dark bluish violet, bases yellow;

outer tepals 9–12 mm, apex truncate, aristate;

filaments connate ± entirely, stipitate-glandular basally;

ovary similar in color to foliage.

Capsules

tan to dark brown, sometimes with purplish tinge apically, ± globose to obovoid, 4–6.8 mm;

pedicel erect to spreading.

beige, ± globose, 2.2–4 mm;

pedicel erect.

Seeds

globose to obconic, lacking obvious depression, 0.9–1.5 mm, rugulose.

globose to obconic, lacking obvious depression, 1–1.7 mm, rugulose.

2n

= 32.

Sisyrinchium montanum

Sisyrinchium halophilum

Phenology Flowering spring–summer.
Habitat Moist, grassy areas, stream banks, springs, meadows, especially in alkaline soil
Elevation 1100–2600 m (3600–8500 ft)
Distribution
from USDA
North America
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; NV; OR; UT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
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.)

Sisyrinchium halophilum is the most common species of the genus in Nevada and eastern California.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Margins of outer spathe connate basally 4–5.7 mm; plants drying dark brown or bronze.
var. crebrum
1. Margins of outer spathe connate basally 1–3.5 mm; plants drying green to olive.
var. montanum
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 366. FNA vol. 26, p. 368.
Parent taxa Iridaceae > Sisyrinchium Iridaceae > Sisyrinchium
Sibling taxa
S. albidum, S. angustifolium, S. arizonicum, S. atlanticum, S. bellum, S. biforme, S. californicum, S. campestre, S. capillare, S. cernuum, S. demissum, S. dichotomum, S. elmeri, S. ensigerum, S. funereum, S. fuscatum, S. groenlandicum, S. halophilum, S. hitchcockii, S. idahoense, S. langloisii, S. littorale, S. longipes, S. miamiense, S. minus, S. mucronatum, S. nashii, S. pallidum, S. pruinosum, S. radicatum, S. rosulatum, S. sagittiferum, S. sarmentosum, S. septentrionale, S. strictum, S. xerophyllum
S. albidum, S. angustifolium, S. arizonicum, S. atlanticum, S. bellum, S. biforme, S. californicum, S. campestre, S. capillare, S. cernuum, S. demissum, S. dichotomum, S. elmeri, S. ensigerum, S. funereum, S. fuscatum, S. groenlandicum, S. hitchcockii, S. idahoense, S. langloisii, S. littorale, S. longipes, S. miamiense, S. minus, S. montanum, S. mucronatum, S. nashii, S. pallidum, S. pruinosum, S. radicatum, S. rosulatum, S. sagittiferum, S. sarmentosum, S. septentrionale, S. strictum, S. xerophyllum
Subordinate taxa
S. montanum var. crebrum, S. montanum var. montanum
Synonyms S. leptocaulon
Name authority Greene: Pittonia 4: 33. (1899) Greene: Pittonia 4: 34. (1899)
Web links