Kingdom: Plantae

Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants

Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons

Order: Liliales

Family: Iridaceae -- iris

Common Name: grass widows

Species Code: SIIN15, OLDOI

Origin: Native to open, vernally moist places from shrub-steppe to open ponderosa pine forests east of the Cascade Mountains of southern British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, extending into Idaho, Utah, and northern Nevada.

Rare: no

Form: forb, caespitose perennial with fibrous roots; stems 10-30 cm tall, compressed, simple.

Mature height: 6-18 inches

Duration: perennial

Longevity: medium life span

Habitat Type: prairie

Wetland Indicator Status: not listed

Leaves: basal leaves reduced to bracts; cauline leaves 2-4, linear, originating from the lower half of the stem, sheathing; blades usually less than 10 cm (but sometimes to 20 cm) long, acuminate.

Flowers: commonly 3, borne in a spadix; pedicels glabrous, slender, often recurved; tepals 6, mostly 15-20 mm long, oblanceolate or obovate, reddish purple to deep purple, sometimes white; perianth flared and shallowly campanulate at the base; filament tube broadly inflated at the base; anthers 3-5 mm long.

Flower color: blue/purple, rarely white

Bloom: March, April, May

Bloom starts on: late March

Bloom ends on: late May in cooler locations

Fruit: capsule, 5-9 mm long; seeds brown, 1.5-2.5 mm long, ovoid, reticulate-pitted.

Characteristics:
Olsynium douglasii (A. Dietr.) Bickn. var. inflatum (Suksdorf) Cholewa & D. Henderson is the currently accepted name (Cholewa 1991).
Sisyrinchium douglasii A. Dietr. var. inflatum (Suksdorf) P. Holmgren is synonymous.
S. douglasii var. inflatum in St John, 1963, Olsynium grandiflorum in Piper & Beattie 1914.
Individual flowers last only a few hours to a day.
Occasionally has white flowers.
Reproduces sexually by seed.
123,928 seeds/lb (USDA NRCS Pullman Plant Materials Center 2005).
Fibrous rooted.
2n=64 (Flora of North America Editorial Committee 1993).
x=8 (University of British Columbia 2003).
Flowers are perfect.
Fruit is a capsule.
The genus is little used by livestock.

Sun requirement: full sun

Soil moisture: mesic

Sowing time: fall

Transplant time: fall

Stratification: cold moist

Seed yield: medium

Seed harvest: easy

Seed first harvest: 3rd or 4th season

Seed cleaning: easy

Planting duration: medium

Seed insect problem: none noted

Seed shatter: medium

Seed size: medium

Seed harvest date: July

Seed comments: slow to flower

Herbaria: Specimen data and digital resources from The Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria

Keywords: native perennial upland forb

Propagation:
1 protocol in the Native Plant Network:
Pullman WA Plant Materials Center

Other Propagation Information:
90 to 120 days cold moist stratification in the dark resulted in highest germination. Germinates at low temperatures during stratification (Nauman 2002).
Reproduces sexually by seed.

Notes: Sisyrinchium inflatum has bright purple to blue flowers on grass-like plants which surely deserve a place in the garden or landscape. Blooms early in the spring. Grows easily from seed given stratification and cool temperatures. Takes several years to flower. Other names include grass widows, blue-eyed grass, Olsynium douglasii var. inflatum (Skinner et al 2005).

References:
Cholewa, Anita F. 1991. Nomenclatural Change in Sisyrinchium douglasii. Madrono 38:232.

Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico. 7+ vols. New York and Oxford. Oxford University Press. Online at http://www.fna.org/FNA/

Nauman, C. 2002. Germination of 12 Palouse Prairie Forbs After Stratification Under Light and Dark Treatments. M.S. Thesis, University of Idaho, Moscow ID.

Piper, C.V., and R.K. Beattie. 1914. The Flora of Southeastern Washington and Adjacent Idaho. Press of the New Era Printing Company, Lancaster, PA. 296 pp.

Skinner, David M., Paul Warnick, Bill French, and Mary Fauci. 2005. Characteristics and Uses of Native Palouse Forbs in Landscaping. USDA NRCS Pullman Plant Materials Center and Palouse Prairie Foundation. Online at http://www.wsu.edu/pmc_nrcs/Docs/Forbs_for_Landscaping.pdf

St. John, Harold. 1963. Flora of Southeastern Washington and of Adjacent Idaho. 3rd edition. Outdoor Pictures. Escondido, CA.

University of British Columbia. 2003. British Columbia Flora. University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research. Accessed 9/1/09 online at http://www.bcflora.org/

USDA NRCS, Pullman Plant Materials Center. 2005. Seed Weights of Some Palouse Native Species. Pullman Plant Materials Center, Pullman, Washington. Online at http://www.wsu.edu/~pmc_nrcs/Docs/Seed_Weights_Palouse_Native_Species.pdf

Links:
Plant Profile from the USDA PLANTS Database
Species description from Flora of North America
Species information from the University of Washington Herbarium