Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Sisyrinchium micranthum

Flowering plant. Photographer Don Wood, south of Narooma

Flowering stem. Photographer Jackie Miles

Common name

Blue Pigroot, Striped Rush-leaf

Family

Iridaceae

Where found

Weed of pastures, gardens, roadsides and other disturbed areas. Mainly coastal. Occasionally elsewhere.

Notes

Introduced annual or perennial herb to 0.6 m high, rhizomatous. Stem often branched, jointed, flattened to winged. Leaves basal and alternating up the stems, 5–20 cm long, 1.5–5 mm wide. Flowers white to cream with a purple or blue centre, purple-striped externally, 10–20 mm in diameter, with 6 'petals', free from each other almost to the base, spreading widely to turned sharply back. Flowers in 1-5-flowered clusters. Flowers mainly spring.

Was Sisyrinchium iridifolium.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Sisyrinchium~micranthum (accessed 30 January, 2021)