Xyris laxifolia
Xyris scabrifolia
laxleaf yelloweyed grass
Harper's yelloweyed grass
compact.
erect to ascending, 10–50 cm;
sheaths pinkish, rugulose, papillate, or scabrous to nearly smooth, soft;
blade dull green, linear, flattened, slightly to very twisted, 2.5–10 mm wide, smooth to papillate or scabrous, margins smooth to scabrous.
scape sheaths exceeded by leaves;
scapes linear, terete, to 2.5 mm wide, smooth to minutely scabrous, 2–4-ribbed distally, ribs papillate to minutely scabrous;
spikes prevalently ovoid-ellipsoid, (7–)10–17(–20) mm;
fertile bracts 6–8 mm, margins entire, apex rounded.
lateral sepals included, slightly curved, 6–8 mm, keel scarious, lacerate to lacero-fimbriate;
petals unfolding midday or afternoon, blade broadly obovate to nearly orbiculate, 3–5 mm;
staminodes bearded.
translucent, ellipsoid-cylindric, 0.6–1 mm, longitudinally multiribbed with fainter cross ribs.
= 18.
Xyris laxifolia
Xyris scabrifolia
Varieties 2 (1 in the flora).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Although I have seen no records from South Carolina, Xyris scabrifolia is to be expected there.
Several examples of what Bridges and Orzell have named Xyris chapmanii, together with a series of my own of this morph, show such intergradation that it is impossible to break the two out even as varieties.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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