Narrow-leaf blue-eyed grass

Images

Click on image to view full size

Narrow-leaf blue-eyed grass habit

Narrow-leaf blue-eyed grass flower

Narrow-leaf blue-eyed grass habit

Narrow-leaf blue-eyed grass flower

Narrow-leaf blue-eyed grass

Narrow-leaf blue-eyed grass leaves

Morphology

Stem

Plants dark olive green. Spreading to erect, branched, .12 to .2 inch wide, glabrous.

Leaves

2-6, basal and cauline, simple, erect; blade linear to lanceolate, shorter than inflorescence, .12 to .25 inch wide, parallel-veined, margins entire.

Inflorescence

Terminal, compound, with 2 or more long-peduncled spathes arising from axils of leaf-like bract; spathes green or tinged purple, outer bracts of spathe with margins fused basally for .12 to .16 inch.

Flower

Tepals 6, pale blue to violet, occasionally white, bases yellow, petal-like, in 2 whorls, distinct, oblong, .3 to .5 inch long, tips rounded to emarginated; stamens 3; pistil 1, 3-carpellate; styles 3.

Fruit

Capsules, dark brown, spherical, .2 to .28 inch; seeds many, black, .02 to 05 inch.

Ecology

Habitat

Moist woodlands, stream banks, and moist tallgrass prairie.

Distribution

Principally east 1/6 of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

The Cherokee gave an infusion of root to children for diarrhea and ate the plant as greens.

Additional Notes