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Sisyrinchium idahoense; photograph (c) Daughter Dad, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Daughter Dad, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-06-19

Sisyrinchium idahoense E.P.Bicknell

Idaho blue-eyed grass

Iridaceae · British Columbia, Colorado +11

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Sisyrinchium idahoense, photograph (c) Daughter Dad, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sisyrinchium idahoense, photograph (c) Murray McGoogan, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sisyrinchium idahoense, photograph (c) Murray McGoogan, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sisyrinchium idahoense, photograph (c) Daughter Dad, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sisyrinchium idahoense, photograph (c) Daughter Dad, some rights reserved (CC BY)Sisyrinchium idahoense, photograph (c) Simone Littledale, some rights reserved (CC BY) 70 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-15.4°C
Record low -24.8 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
25°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
724mm
11 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
10–49DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes November to May, with nights below freezing; no growing season read. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Sisyrinchium idahoense, the Idaho blue-eyed grass, is a perennial that is native to western North America. It is not a true grass, but is instead in the family Iridaceae.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Sisyrinchium idahoense", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Sisyrinchium

Sisyrinchium is a large genus of annual to perennial flowering plants in the family Iridaceae. Native to the New World, the species are known as blue-eyed grasses. Although they are not true grasses (Poaceae), they are monocots.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Sisyrinchium", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a rainy season and no growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (524 mm of 708 mm) falls in November to May, the cooler part of the year, but the mean nightly low is below freezing in February, March, April, May, December and January, so the rule reads no growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: May to November.

Rain

708 mm in the median year at the habitat, 524 mm of it November to May. Wettest month December at 95 mm, driest month July at 22 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 320 mm to 2,012 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 724 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 708 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 49 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 6, the highest 90th-percentile month 53).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -15.4 °C, the absolute minimum -24.8 °C, 9,176 frost nights in 44 years, 208.5 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -6.4 °C in December (across the grid cells of the range -13.5 °C to 2.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 25.4 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -15.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 48 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +575 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Sisyrinchium idahoense through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 25 °C; coldest month December, mean nightly low -6.4 °C; 708 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost31.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-24.8° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 10–49RH 48–63%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 665 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C2 / -4–94 / -2–107 / 2–1311 / 6–1616 / 11–2021 / 16–2525 / 20–3025 / 20–2921 / 16–2514 / 10–186 / 1–111 / -4–8
Night °C-6 / -13–2-6 / -12–2-3 / -9–4-1 / -6–64 / -2–98 / 3–1212 / 8–1512 / 7–158 / 3–123 / -2–8-3 / -9–5-6 / -14–2
Rain mm89 / 20–30669 / 18–23969 / 25–22555 / 25–15362 / 30–11346 / 19–9322 / 10–5225 / 10–5036 / 15–6955 / 23–16685 / 20–31595 / 22–340
DLI12 / 7–1919 / 13–2628 / 20–3637 / 29–4543 / 36–5047 / 39–5349 / 42–5243 / 37–4734 / 28–3922 / 16–2913 / 8–2010 / 6–17
RH %63 / 53–6761 / 54–6558 / 53–6456 / 51–6354 / 49–6152 / 45–6048 / 41–5948 / 42–5950 / 44–6054 / 48–6361 / 52–6763 / 53–68
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 665 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (859 records in those cells; 8 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1013:1192 (39.325, -120.375). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -24.8 °C, 1st-percentile night -15.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 665 distinct grid cells holding 859 of the 876 in-range records (8 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1013:1192 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 39.50_-120.625, lapse-corrected +575 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 2156 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBritish Columbia, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Mexico Northwest · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker44.542, -123.281 · in the densest population, 813 records (62% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1317 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 859 of them in the land cells it reads, of 876 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 611 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 271 km away. 4 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 441 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 1317 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Sisyrinchium idahoense, photograph 1did not loadSisyrinchium idahoense, photograph 2did not loadSisyrinchium idahoense, photograph 3did not loadSisyrinchium idahoense, photograph 4did not loadSisyrinchium idahoense, photograph 5did not loadSisyrinchium idahoense, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Daughter Dad, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Murray McGoogan, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Simone Littledale, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Collinsia parviflora Collinsia parviflora Maiden blue eyed Mary Photo: CC BY, Daughter DadSalix scouleriana Salix scouleriana Scouler’s Willow Photo: CC BY, Adam J. SearcyFestuca idahoensis Festuca idahoensis Idaho fescue Photo: CC BY, Austin SaundersHypericum scouleri Hypericum scouleri Scouler's St. John's-wort Photo: CC BY, Whitney Brook MatsonPenstemon venustus Penstemon venustus Venus Beardtongue Photo: CC BY, Jared ShormaSpiraea × pyramidata Spiraea × pyramidata Pyramid meadowsweet Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Sisyrinchium 25 in the reference

Sisyrinchium albidum Sisyrinchium albidum White blue-eyed grass Photo: CC0, author not statedSisyrinchium angustifolium Sisyrinchium angustifolium Narrow-leaf blue-eyed-grass Photo: CC BY, Matt PelikanSisyrinchium arenarium Sisyrinchium arenarium Iridaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Grzegorz GrzejszczakSisyrinchium atlanticum Sisyrinchium atlanticum Eastern blue-eyed grass Photo: CC0, author not statedSisyrinchium bellum Sisyrinchium bellum Western blue-eyed grass Photo: CC BY-SA, paulexcoffSisyrinchium bermudiana Sisyrinchium bermudiana Blue-eyed-grass Photo: CC0, author not statedSisyrinchium californicum Sisyrinchium californicum Yellow-eyed-grass Photo: CC BY, Alexis Tinker-TsavalasSisyrinchium campestre Sisyrinchium campestre Prairie blue-eyed grass Photo: CC BY, Bria Abeles-AllisonSisyrinchium chilense Sisyrinchium chilense Swordleaf blue-eyed grass Photo: CC BY, Lucas CarboneSisyrinchium convolutum Sisyrinchium convolutum Iridaceae Photo: CC BY, Anders HastingsSisyrinchium demissum Sisyrinchium demissum Stiff blue-eyed grass Photo: CC BY, Abraham Sánchez RomeroSisyrinchium ensigerum Sisyrinchium ensigerum Swordleaf blue-eyed grass Photo: CC BY, IDClaire all 26 ›

Names & registers

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Iridaceae
Described by
E.P.Bicknell
Native to
British Columbia, Colorado, Idaho +10
Wild records
1317 in range · 611 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 29 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (18 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 11 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 39.50_-120.625, lapse-corrected +575 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 79 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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