Twisted Yellow Eyed Grass

Although I have seen no records from Maine, Xyris torta is to be expected there.

Xyris torta is the widest-ranging of all North American xyrids and the most expressive ecologically; thus it is not surprising that it varies so much morphologically. It is much ofthen confused in older nomenclature literature with X. caroliniana. Xyris torta is the type species for the genus.

Herbs, perennial, cespitose or solitary, 15--80(--100) cm, base abruptly bulbous. Stems compact. Leaves ascending to erect, 20--50 cm; sheath base often reddened or pink; blade green, elongate-linear, twisted, 2--5 mm wide, smooth to papillate, with strongly raised veins, margins smooth or papillate. Inflorescences: scape sheaths exceeded by leaves; scapes linear, flexuous, 1--1.5(--2) mm wide, distally 5--6-ribbed, ribs smooth or papillate; spikes globose to ovoid, ellipsoid, lanceoloid, or cylindric, 8--25 mm, apex acute or blunt; fertile bracts 5--7 mm, margins entire except for red fimbriololation at rounded apex. Flowers: lateral sepals included, strongly curved, 4.5--5.5 mm; keel firm, ciliate except for red-fimbriloolate tip; petals unfolding in morning, blade obovate, 4 mm; staminodes bearded. Seeds translucent, ellipsoid, 0.5 mm, strongly ridged longitudinally with finer cross-lines. 2n = 18.

Ala., Ark., Conn., Del., Ga., Ill., Ind., Iowa, Ky., La., Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Miss., Mo., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Okla., Pa., R.I., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va., W.Va., Wis.

Flowering late spring--fall.

Sphagnous bogs, streambanks, pond shores, wet sandy swales, moist disturbed sites, various physiographic provinces; 100--1200m.

Kotsjelottia flexuosa Nieuwland; Xyris bulbosa Kunth

Xyris torta Smith, in Rees, Cycl. 39: Xyris no. 11. 1818
Xyris indica L. Sp. PI. 42, in part (as to the American plant). 1753. Xyris flexuosa Chapm. Fl. S. U. S. 500. 1860. Xyris bulbosa Kunth, Enum. PI. 4: 1 1. 1843. ~>Kotsjilettia flexuosa Nieuwl. Am. Midi. Nat. 3: 99. 1913.
Leaves 10-25 (-30) cm. long, 1-2 mm. broad, acute or nearly obtuse, smooth or minutely tuberculate, the sheath pale-rusty, opaque, much dilated and thickened at the base; peduncles usually 30-50 cm. tall, about 1 mm. broad, terete or nearly so, bicostate above, often indistinctly many-costate below, smooth, the peduncular sheath 5-10 cm. long, pale-rusty below; spike 5-8 (-10) mm. long, 4—7 (-8) mm. thick, the outer barren bracts elliptic or oblong, about 3 mm. long, rounded or nearly so at the apex, the flowering bracts very convex, usually 4-4.5 mm. long, 3.5-4 mm. broad, rounded, usually minutely fimbriate at the apex, otherwise entire, tawny or rusty, slightly shining, with an elliptic or nearly orbicular grayish-green dorsal area 1.5-2 mm. long; lateral sepals about 4 mm. long and 0.8 mm. broad, acute; seeds ellipsoid, 0.4—0.5 mm. long.
Type locality: North America.
Distribution: Maine to Minnesota, and southward to Georgia and Missouri.

Xyris torta, the slender yelloweyed grass, is a North American species of flowering plants in the yellow-eyed-grass family. It is widespread in the central and eastern United States from New Hampshire to Georgia, west as far as Minnesota, Nebraska, and eastern Texas.

Xyris torta is a perennial herb with a stem up to 100 cm (40 inches) tall with long, narrow twisted leaves up to 50 cm (20 inches) long but generally less than 5 mm (0.2 inches) wide.