Xyridaceae
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Authority
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
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Family
Xyridaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Family Description - Fls hypogynous, perfect, usually entomophilous but without nectaries or nectar; sep typically 3, the upper (anterior, adaxial) one thin and membranous, ± enclosing the pet and abscising as the fl opens, or sometimes reduced or obsolete; lateral sep 2, boat-shaped, keeled, chaffy-scarious, persistent and clasping the capsular fr; pet 3, ephemeral, nearly or quite alike, yellow or sometimes white or blue, long-clawed and distinct, or connate below into a slender tube; stamens mostly 3, opposite and basally adnate to the pet, often alternating with staminodes; ovary tricarpellate, typically (incl. our spp.) unilocular with 3 parietal (often ± intruded) placentas each bearing several or many ovules; embryo small, scarcely differentiated into parts, lying alongside the base of the copious, mealy endosperm; herbs; lvs mostly or all basal, with an open sheath and narrow, parallel-veined (or univeined), very often equitant and unifacial blade; scapes or peduncles each usually terminating in a head or dense spike with the fls sessile in the axils of firm, spirally arranged, closely imbricate bracts. 4/nearly 300 spp.
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Common Names
The yellow-eyed grass family