Friday, June 01, 2007

Blue-Eyed Grass

A few days ago, Kentucky poets Sherry Chandler and Charlie Whitt came up with a picture of Blue-eyed Grass from the Jesse Stuart State Nature Preserve, so this flower was already on my mind when I found it on the point of this ridge the other day. I met the name "Blue-Eyed Grass" in a botany book in graduate school, and thought, "I want to see that flower!" It's tiny, and it's not grass, but the strange way the bright flowers sit at the tip of a flattened stem certainly justifies the wonderful name.

It might seem strange to read that this is in the Iris family, but if you notice the growing seed pods in the second picture, you'll understand why.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great pictures!! Gotta love the macro lens!

Sherry said...

Lovely

Rebecca Clayton said...

Thanks!

Larry said...

Blue-eyed grass has long been one of my favorites; it is a common early-summer prairie forb in the Midwest.

Henry Thoreau also was fond of this flower.

You certainly have been putting your new lens to good use lately, Rebecca!