Happy Mystery Monday! Can you guess what is pictured in the photo below:
The answer to last week’s mystery is blue-eyed grass, Sisyrinchium angustifolium, pictured in the photo below.
Blue-eyed grass is a tiny, but mighty flower that is native to 60% of the United States and the eastern half of Canada. It thrives from Maine to Texas. Blue-eyed grass grows in woodlands, forests, meadows, sand hills, and swales.
Despite its name, blue-eyed grass is not a grass, it’s a member of the iris family. Its stiff, narrow, blade-like leaves form a fan shape, similar to other plants in the iris family.
Noted for its violet-blue flowers with yellow centers, the long-lasting blooms measure 1″ in diameter. In late-Spring, the flowers develop into seed heads shaped like round balls that hold several tiny seeds. The black seeds can be carried short distances by wind. When conditions are just right, blue-eyed grass will happily self-seed, but it also spreads via underground rhizomes.
Mystery Monday is sponsored by the Spy Newspapers and Adkins Arboretum.
