Narrow-leaved Blue-eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium) — identification, habitat & look-alikes

Narrow-leaved blue-eyed grass is a blue-eyed grass native across the eastern United States, and despite the name it isn't a grass at all but a member of the iris family. In spring it opens small, star-shaped blue flowers with a bright yellow eye on flat, winged stems.

Appearance

Appearance: Grows in tufted, grass-like clumps 6–20 in (15–50 cm) tall. The flat stems have wings about 1/8 in (2–4 mm) wide and usually branch; the leaves are narrow and sword-shaped.
Flowers: Each flower has six blue to violet (rarely white) about 3/8 in (7–10 mm) long, each with a tiny pointed tip and visible veins, around a yellow center.
Flowering time: Spring to early summer, peaking around April. Flowering can start as early as January in the South; in Louisiana it blooms March through July.
Fruit: A small, roundish capsule that splits open to release tiny black seeds.

Look-alikes

strict blue-eyed grassSisyrinchium montanum

Strict blue-eyed grass has unbranched flower stems, while narrow-leaved blue-eyed grass usually branches. It is a more northern plant, reaching south only to about Pennsylvania in the East. Leaf width overlaps, so don't rely on it.

Why they get mixed upSame blue, yellow-eyed flowers on grassy, winged stems — the two are so similar that they are sometimes combined into one species.

white blue-eyed grassSisyrinchium albidum

Its flowers are white to pale blue, and the unbranched stems usually carry two flower clusters each.

Why they get mixed upAnother common eastern blue-eyed grass with similar grassy clumps.

blue pigrootSisyrinchium micranthum

Its flowers are usually white with a blue-to-purple center and a bit larger across (about 3/8–3/4 in, 10–20 mm), narrowing into an urn shape at the base. It is native to Central and South America but has naturalized in the southeastern U.S., where it was long called Sisyrinchium rosulatum.

Why they get mixed upSmall star-shaped flowers on similar narrow leaves.

Where it lives

Typical habitats: meadows
damp fields
open woods
moist pinelands
grassy roadsides
Range: Native throughout the eastern United States west to Texas and Kansas, and north into eastern Canada, including Quebec and Newfoundland.
Preferred conditions: Prefers sun to light shade and moist soil, and often grows in sandy or rocky acidic ground, from damp woods and stream banks to open meadows.
Flowering: Flowers Mar–Jul
Flowers Mar–Jul

Growing it

Care: A popular native garden plant, hardy in 4 to 9. It spreads by short and self-seeding, and clumps can be divided every two to three years after flowering.
Propagation: Easiest from seed sown outdoors in fall so winter cold does the work. Seed can also be chilled moist in a refrigerator for about 6 weeks, then kept at 50–60°F (10–16°C); it doesn't sprout well at room temperature.

Conservation

IUCN Red List: NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed

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