Sisyrinchium demissum – Stiff Blue-eyed Grass

Sisyrinchium demissum - Stiff Blue-eyed Grass, Dwarf Blue-eyed Grass, Blue Star Grass (flower)

Sisyrinchium demissum - Stiff Blue-eyed Grass, Dwarf Blue-eyed Grass, Blue Star Grass

Sisyrinchium demissum - Stiff Blue-eyed Grass, Dwarf Blue-eyed Grass, Blue Star Grass (leaves)

Sisyrinchium demissum - Stiff Blue-eyed Grass, Dwarf Blue-eyed Grass, Blue Star Grass

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Sisyrinchium demissum

Synonyms: Sisyrinchium longipedunculatum, S. macrocarpon

Common Names: Stiff Blue-eyed Grass, Dwarf Blue-eyed Grass, Blue Star Grass

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Riparian. These attractive wildflowers grow in moist meadows and along streams, springs, and seeps. These were photographed in the Arivaca Cienega, a desert wetland in the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge.

Flower Color: Sapphire blue to bluish violet, White (rare)

Flowering Season: Spring, Summer

Height: Up to 20 inches (50 cm) tall

Description: The flowers are on long, slender stems and emerge from 2 opposite bracts. The individual flowers have yellow stamens and 6 tepals (petals and petal-like sepals) with pointed tips and yellow at the base. The flowers are followed by small, spherical, pale brown seed capsules. The leaves are grasslike, light green to glaucous green in color, hairless, parallel-veined, and narrowly sword-shaped. The plants form dense, grasslike clumps.

The other Sisyrinchium species found here have yellow to orange flowers.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
Subclass: Liliidae
Order: Liliales
Family: Iridaceae – Iris family
Genus: Sisyrinchium L. – blue-eyed grass
Species: Sisyrinchium demissum Greene – stiff blue-eyed grass

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map