Fringed Yelloweyed Grass

Herbs, perennial, usually cespitose, 60--150 cm, base shallowly set. Stems compact. Leaves in fans, 40--70 cm; base dull, straw-colored, green, or pinkish; blade lustrous green, broadly linear, flat or slightly twisted, 5--25 mm, smooth, margins papillate. Inflorescences: scape sheaths much exceeded by leaves; scapes linear, 1--1.5 mm wide, distally scabrous, 2-ribbed, ribs harsh; spikes ovoid to ellipsoid, 12--25 mm, apex blunt; fertile bracts 5--8 mm, margins nearly entire, apex rounded. Flowers: lateral sepals conspicuously exserted, yellow-brown, nearly straight, (5.5--)6--8(--9) mm, keel firm, long-fimbriate with pale hairs; petals unfolding in late morning, blade obovate, 5--8 mm; staminodes bearded. Seeds translucent, cylindro-fusiform, 0.8--1 mm, with broad, flat, pale longitudinal ribs. 2n = 18.

Ala., Del., Fla., Ga., La., Md., Miss., N.J., N.C., Pa., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va.

Flowering summer--fall (all year south).

Peats and mucks of pond shallows, sluggish shallow streams, bogs, seeps, low pine savanna; 0--300m.

Xyris fimbriata Ell. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 1: 52. 1816
Tufted, rarely annual; roots filiform; leaves linear, 40-60 cm. long, 6—10 mm. broad, obtuse, smooth; sheath occupying about one half the length of the leaf, somewhat dilated below, pale rusty and opaque at the base; peduncles 60-100 cm. tall, 1.5-2.5 mm. broad, bicostate above, multicostate at the middle, scabrid on the ridges, elsewhere smooth, the peduncular sheath 25-40 cm. long; spike obovoid or ellipsoid, 10-15 mm. long, 6-9 mm. thick, the barren bracts numerous (10-15), the outer bracts ovate-orbicular, about 3 mm. long, the flowering bracts obovate-orbicular, about 7 mm. long, 5-6 mm. broad, coriaceous, entire or minutely lacerate-fimbriate at the apex, straw-colored or pale-rusty, somewhat shining, with a grayishgreen ovate or ovate-deltoid dorsal area about 2.5 mm. long; lateral sepals linear-lanceolate, 7-9 mm. long, 0.8-1 mm. broad, somewhat bearded at the apex; keel narrow, bearded or long lacerate-fimbriate from the middle to the apex; seeds fusiform, about 1 mm. long.
Type locality: Georgia.
Distribution: New Jersev to Florida and Mississippi.

Xyris fimbriata, the fringed yelloweyed grass, is a North American species of flowering plant in the yellow-eyed-grass family. It is native to the coastal plain of the United States from eastern Texas to New Jersey.

Xyris fimbriata is a perennial herb up to 150 cm (5 feet) tall with grass-like, olive-green leaves up to 70 cm (28 inches) long, and yellow flowers.