![]() Members of the iris family are perennial plants, arising from a bulb, corm or rhizome. ![]() 176 Although not always accepted by modern taxonomists, the simplicity of these groups makes them useful for general purposes. As distinguished from dicots (the other traditional group of angiosperms, or flowering plants), monocots have flower parts in multiples of three (instead of five or four) and there is only one cotyledon or “seed-leaf” in the embryo (instead of two) there are also differences in pollen morphology and in the arrangement of the vascular tissue. The fruit is a globular dry capsule that splits open at maturity to release numerous small, rounded seeds.īlue-eyed grass is a monocot angiosperm in the iris family (Iridaceae). The style is largely concealed by the filament column but can sometimes be seen as a tiny spire projecting from the top of the anther ring. There is one pistil with an inferior, three-chambered ovary. There are three stamens, their filaments fused into a column around the pistil the anthers form a bright yellow scalloped umbrella on top. ![]() Tepals form a shallow or inverted saucer around the stamens and pistil. At the outer end of each tepal is often a small point, arising from a shallow, rounded indentation. The tepals are obovate to lanceolate and dark blue/purple (occasionally pale or white) with a bright yellow fringed shape at the base and with radiating darker lines. The three petals and three sepals are similar (together called tepals). Flowers are radially symmetrical with diameters up to 1 1/4 inches (3.2 cm). Flowers open sequentially so that one or a few are open at any time. At a node where a lateral branch arises, the main axis is often angeled and a leafy bract may be present. ![]() Up to a dozen flowers occur in a loose compound cluster at the end of a strongly flattened, green peduncle. Leaves are folded around each other at their bases, from which point all leaves fan out in a flat spray. The green or blue-green, strap-like leaves are tightly folded at the midrib. Each shoot consists of a few basal leaves and a terminal inflorescence. Each rhizome produces one to several ascending or vertical shoots, up to 2 feet (60 cm) long. Blue-eyed grass is a short-lived perennial herb that arises from a shallow, horizontal stem (rhizome). ![]()
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