Sisyrinchium bellum Wats.
Blue-eyed-grass
Family: Iridaceae
Habit: Tufted perennial; stems from 1 to 6 dm. high, almost always with leaf-bearing nodes; leaves narrow and grass-like. Flower 10.5 to 17 mm. with deep bluish purple to blue-violet color, rarely white.
Distribution: Common in moist, open grassy areas and woodlands in California and Oregon.
Seed unit: Free seed (fruit is a loculicidal capsule).
Seed: 1 to 1.5 mm. across, globular to rounded-angular; black, surface reticulated to nearly smooth. The attachment zone is a puckered-up depression. Endosperm hard and semi-transparent or whitish.
Embryo: Linear embryo.
Purity instructions: Pure seed definition:
AOSA: PSU #1 – Seed, with or without seed coat; broken seed larger than one-half the original size.
Average pure seed units per gram: 804 seeds per gram (based on AOSA pure seed units only from 54 samples received for testing from 1992 to 2003).
Range of percent pure seed: 95% to 99%
Range of percent inert: Trace to 3%
Description of inert: Dirt, plant material, stone.
Planting instructions: 400 seeds, TB, 21 days @ 15°C; for fresh and dormant seed, extend test for up to 3 months, or use TZ. 5°C prechill not recommended.
References: (link to main reference page)
Hickman, J.C., Ed. 1993. p. 1156.
Martin, A.C. and W.D. Barkley. 1961. p. 142.
Munz, P.A. and D.D. Keck. 1968. p. 1392.
Ransom Seed Laboratory
