Sisyrinchium bellum

Western blue-eyed-grass

Family: Iridaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Western blue-eyed-grass is a California native perennial found in western California in open, moist grassy areas and woodlands at elevations below 2,400 meters. Flowering from March to May, this plant produces blue-purple to violet flowers occasionally fading to pale blue or white, with delicate blossoms around 10 to 17 millimeters long. Growing in tufted clusters with slender stems up to 64 centimeters tall and 1.5 to 5.3 millimeters wide, it forms dense, graceful clumps. Its narrow leaves emerge from a single leaf-bearing node, creating a distinctive grass-like appearance with translucent bracts that have uniquely shaped margins. The flower tips are truncate to notched, giving these delicate blossoms an elegant, softly rounded profile.

Habitat: Common. Open, generally moist, grassy areas, woodland

Bloom period: Mar-May

Elevation: < 2400 m

Bioregions: w CA

California counties: San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Lassen, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Riverside, Ventura, Orange, Del Norte, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Marin, Butte, Plumas, Siskiyou, Napa, Alameda, San Joaquin, Colusa, Santa Clara, Sacramento, Sonoma, San Mateo, Tuolumne, Humboldt, Placer, Madera, Shasta, Trinity, San Francisco, Mendocino, Santa Cruz, Mariposa, Kern, San Benito, Contra Costa, Tulare, Inyo, El Dorado, Nevada, Solano, Fresno, Lake, Tehama, Yuba, Yolo, Modoc, Amador, Mono, Stanislaus, Calaveras, Sierra

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.