Mountain Blue-eyed Grass

Sisyrinchium montanum

Also known as Strict Blue-eyed Grass, Blue-eyed Grass, Common Blue-eyed Grass

At a glance

Family

Iridaceae (Iris family)

Type

Herbaceous perennial wildflower (not a true grass, despite the name)

Parts used

Whole plant, noted in scattered historical ethnobotanical records

Size

6 to 20 inches tall, growing in tidy tufted clumps

Bloom

Late spring into midsummer, with small six-petaled violet-blue flowers, each centered with a bright yellow eye

Habitat

Damp prairies, open meadows, streambanks, and grassy woodland edges across much of North America

Acquisition

Grow or buy

This plant in HerbSense

Key benefits

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Cheerful early season color

Draws bees and pollinators

Tough once established

Naturalizes a native meadow

Traditional uses

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Mountain blue-eyed grass has lived quietly at the edges of prairies and wet meadows for longer than anyone has kept written record of it, its small violet stars opening each morning and folding shut again by evening. A few Native American communities noted uses for related Sisyrinchium species in easing digestive upset, though the historical record for this particular species is thin and inconsistent, more a footnote than a settled tradition. Mostly, this little iris relative earned its keep simply by being lovely, threading blue through the green of early summer grasslands and telling foragers and herbalists alike that the growing season had truly begun.

How to grow & use it

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The full apothecary for Mountain Blue-eyed Grass

Traditional remedies and step-by-step preparations, a complete growing guide, and how to harvest, dry, and store it, all unlocked with HerbLens Unlimited.

✦Remedies & preparations
✦ Growing guide
✦Harvest & storage

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Pairs well with

✦Wild bergamot
✦Prairie coneflower
✦Little bluestem

Substitutes

✦Other native Sisyrinchium species such as narrowleaf blue-eyed grass

Choose it when

“For the meadow that wants a scatter of small blue stars among the green.”

Did you know?

Despite its common name and grass-like foliage, blue-eyed grass is not a grass at all, it is a true member of the iris family. Each starry flower opens only in sunshine and closes up on cloudy afternoons and every night, so a meadow full of blooms can seem to vanish and reappear with the weather.

Safety

Mountain blue-eyed grass has no established history as a food or medicine, so it is best enjoyed as a wildflower rather than eaten.