Savannah Yellow Eyed Grass

Herbs, annual, cespitose, rarely solitary, 7--30 cm. Stems short. Leaves in fans, (1--)2--3(--10) cm; sheath base without chestnut brown patch; blade strongly maroon-tinged, lance-linear, 1--3(--4) mm wide, margins papillate or finely tuberculate-scabrous. Inflorescences: scape sheaths much exceeding leaves; scapes filiform, nearly terete, 0.5 mm wide, many ribbed; spikes mostly ovoid, mostly longer than broad, 4--8(--10) mm, apex acute; fertile bracts 3--5 mm, margins entire or erose, apex keeled. Flowers: lateral sepals included, strongly curved, 2--3 mm, keel concolorous, firm, ciliate; petals unfolding in morning, blade obovate, 2.5--3 mm; staminodes bearded. Seeds translucent, broadly ellipsoid to round, 0.3 mm, finely lined longitudinally. 2n = 18.

Ala., Fla., Ga., Miss., N.C., S.C.

Flowering spring--early summer (all year south).

Acid, sandy, peaty flatwoods, clearings, disturbed moist sands, coastal plain; 0--200m.

Xyris flabelliformis Chapm. Fl. S. U. S. 499. 1860
Annual; leaves linear, often curvate, 1-2 cm. long, 0.5-1.5 mm. broad, obtuse, smooth; sheath occupying about one half the length of the leaf, somewhat dilated at the base; peduncles 7-15 cm. tall, 0.3-0.5 mm. broad, terete or nearly so, smooth, the peduncular sheath 1.5-2.5 cm. long, often violaceous at the base; spike few-flowered, ellipsoid or ovoid, 3-5 mm. long, 2-3.5 mm. thick, the outer barren bracts ovate or ovate-elliptic, about 2 mm. long, obtuse, the flowering bracts elliptic, about 3 mm. long and 2 mm. broad, obtusely carinate above, strawcolored or tawny, with a grayish-green or purple-colored lanceolate dorsal area; lateral sepals lanceolate, falcate, about 2.5 mm. long, acute at the apex; keel very narrow, ciliate-scabrid from near the base to the apex; seeds ellipsoid, about 0.4 mm. long.
Type LOCALITY: bow pine barrens, near the coast, western Florida. Distribution: Florida to Mississippi.

Xyris flabelliformis, the savannah 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 Mississippi to the Carolinas.

Xyris flabelliformis is a perennial herb up to 30 cm (12 inches) tall with thread-like leaves up to 10 cm (4 inches) long, and yellow flowers.