Participant Info

Species

Sisyrinchium idahoense [Sisyrinchium occidentale]

Family

Iridaceae

CommonName

Idaho blue-eyed grass

Presence

YES

Status

native

EarliestDate

1942

LatestDate

1942

Ecosystem

basin, foothill

Geobotanical

NCristos, UBasin

Counties

Saguache

Passes

WildlifePreserves

Other Localities

PhotoRecords

Comments

NEED IN SITU PHOTOS. Ackerfield says this species of blue-eyed grass is "common in moist meadows and along streams" in many counties of Colorado, but it is quite scarce and even possibly eradicated in the Watershed. There are only two collections of Sisyrinchium idahoense, dating from 1942, from the same location whose coordinates show 1.6 miles E and ENE of Moffat, “Abundant in meadow in clay loam.” That part of the upper Valley has been extensively ranched, and the species may have been grazed out. So it hasn't been observed in the Watershed for 80 years. It is the most wide spread of Western USA Sisyrinchiums, found in all Western states. Allred et al. (2020) record it from New Mexico in "moist meadow, seeps and springs, and forest glades" from the Colorado border down to Sierra Co. The species does not follow the Rio Grande drainage farther south.

Annotation