Sisyrinchium californicum
Gerald D. Carr

Flora of Oregon

Stems unbranched, tufted.

Flowers perianth segments yellow to orange with brown veins, tips rounded or acute; filaments distinct and glabrous.

Fruits spindle-shaped to obconic, dark brown to black.

Seeds hemispherical, with shallow depression on flattened side, wrinkled.

2n=32, 34, 38.

Moist coastal areas. Flowering May–Aug. 0–150 m. CR, Est, Sisk, WV. CA, WA; north to British Columbia. Native.

Gardening with Natives

Golden-eyed grass is a charming and diminutive member of the iris family. Two to six bright yellow, 6-tepaled flowers bloom on a flowering stem. Golden-eyed grass forms flowering clumps and can self-sow, spreading its dainty yellow flowers throughout the rain garden, meadowscape, and moist rock garden. 

Flora of North America

as described under Sisyrinchium californicum

Herbs, perennial, cespitose, dark brown to black when dry, to 6.2 dm, not glaucous. Stems simple, 2-6.8 mm wide, glabrous, margins entire, similar in color and texture to stem body. Leaf blades glabrous, bases not persistent in fibrous tufts. Inflorescences borne singly; spathes mostly greenish, glabrous, keels entire; outer 13-53 mm, 2.2-9 mm longer than inner, tapering evenly towards apex, margins basally connate 3-8 mm; inner with keel straight to evenly curved, hyaline margins 0.5-1 mm, apex usually rounded, occasionally erose, ending 0.2-1 mm proximal to green apex. Flowers: tepals medium to bright yellow with brownish veins; outer tepals 12-18 mm, apex rounded or acute, aristate; filaments ± distinct, glabrous; ovary similar in color to foliage. Capsules dark brown to black, broadly fusiform or slightly turbinate, 6-13 mm; pedicel erect to ascending. Seeds hemispherical, with shallow depression on flattened side, 0.7-1.5 mm, rugulose. 2n = 32, 34, 36.Flowering spring--late summer. Moist areas near coast; 0--700 m; B.C.; Calif., Oreg., Wash.

Photo images

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Herbarium specimens

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