Sisyrinchium pallidum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sisyrinchium pallidum | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Iridaceae |
| Genus: | Sisyrinchium |
| Species: | S. pallidum |
| Binomial name | |
| Sisyrinchium pallidum Cholewa & Douglass M.Hend. | |
Sisyrinchium pallidum, more commonly known as pale blue-eyed grass, is a species of blue-eyed grass in the iris family. It is a small plant that lacks woody parts and grows in constantly wet meadows and fens in the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming. It is a rare species and is vulnerable to development of its required habitat type.
Pale blue-eyed grass is a small herbaceous plant that resembles grass, though it is not closely related to any of the true grasses.[2] Plants may reach 30 centimeters (12 in) in height and grow in clumps of tightly bunched leaves and stems. The stems do not branch, are hairless, and are 1 to 2 millimeters wide.[3] The many roots are fibrous.[4]
The leaves are shorter than the stems, reaching a maximum of just 25 cm. Their edges are smooth and the width is 1.3 to 2.6 millimeters.[4] The color of the plant is green when growing and olive when dry.[3]
The inflorescence is at the end of the stem with one to five flowers on slender, normally hairless pedicels.[4] The six tepals are delicate, pale blue with yellow bases. The pedicels emerge from two spathes at the end of the stem, the outer one 28–38 mm long and the inner one 7–26 mm longer. Flowering is in midsummer.[3]
The fruit is a round capsule 3–5 millimeters in diameter and beige to dark-brown.[3] The seeds are very small, averaging just 1 mm. They are black with a granular surface.[4]
It is very similar to two other species found in its range, Sisyrinchium montanum and Sisyrinchium idahoense. It is most easily distinguished from these by the light color of its flowers in comparison to the dark blue of its relatives. The habitat where it is found also strongly differentiates them with S. pallidum only found in continually wet places.[5]