Plant ID, Bristol Waterfront

[davidbr]

I'd greatly appreciate some help and suggestions as to the ID of this little beauty, growing out of a gap in cobble-stones along the waterfront in Bristol City Centre (Bathurst Parade, for those who know the area...)

With a single whote flower and linear, grass-like leaves, the only thing that comes to mind is possibly a type of Eyed-grass, Sisyrinchium, but it doesn't match any on BSBI's list.

flower


[rosette of leaves[/i]

[Ida]

I would hazzard a guess that this is a very stunted Sisyrincium striatum, a widely-grown garden perennial.

These usually grow to about 50cm, and produce flower spikes; but I suppose this little one could be a garden escapee struggling to survive in a crack in the paving.

[Ida]

Just realised I've mispelled it, sorry . Should be Sisyrinchium striatum.

[Tiggrx]

Looks more like Sisyrinchium iridiifolium to me

[davidbr]

Having done a search on the Net I agree with Tiggrx - it's definitely Sisyrinchium iridifolium, Spreading Blue-eyed-grass.

Having looked again at the site, it's home to upwards of half a dozen plants spread over a fairly wide area of cobbles so it seems as if the species could well persist there. Which is interesting, as S.iridifolium isn't on BSBI's massive database of plants known to be growing wild in Britain...

[Tiggrx]

Originally Posted by davidbr

S.iridifolium isn't on BSBI's massive database of plants known to be growing wild in Britain...

I think it might be listed as S. laxum

[thunder]

Originally Posted by Tiggrx

I think it might be listed as S. laxum

I believe so - but this species is called Veined Yellow-eyed-grass by Stace. Is this the same as Spreading Blue-eyed-grass?

henrya

[davidbr]

I'm pretty sure it isn't, because before posting the image on here I went through all the sisyrinchium species listed on BSBI's database using Google Image and there was nothing that matched.

[thunder]

Originally Posted by davidbr

I'm pretty sure it isn't, because before posting the image on here I went through all the sisyrinchium species listed on BSBI's database using Google Image and there was nothing that matched.

Hmmmm. S. iridifolium subsp. valdivianum is given as a synonym of S. laxum in Stace.

Puzzling.

henrya

[davidbr]

Yes, having done a bit more research into this one it seems Sisyrinchium laxum, Veined Yellow-eyed-grass, is the correct name for this plant.

S.iridifolium is a synonym for S.laxum, but Spreading Blue-eyed-Grass seems to be the common name given to a N.American plant that's either a sub-species of S.iridifolium/laxum or a totally seperate species (Wikipedia gives it as S. iridifolioides.

So it looks as if I've found and photographed Veined Yellow-eyed-Grass. According to the Interactive Flora of NW Europe online, though, this species is meant to be known only from Jersey with an extinct site in North Hants - a pretty pleasing find, then, nonetheless