Montane.  Meadows, openings.  Summer.
Haviland Lake, June 17, 2009.

Blue-eyed Grass is a delicate plant hard to find in grasses that it blends into, but this robust cluster of plants, sprouting from spreading roots, was very easy to spot. Flowers are blue to blue-purple.  The dark area beneath each flower is a "spathe", a large, leaf-like bract that encloses the flower bud and then subtends and surrounds the flower on one side once the flower opens.

Sisyrinchium is found throughout the United States and Sisyrinchium montanum is found through the Rocky Mountain states and across the northern United States into New England.

Linnaeus named this genus in 1753.  "Sisyrinchium" is an ancient Greek name for an Iris-like plant.  Edward Greene named the Sisyrinchium montanum species.

Montane.  Meadows, openings.  Summer.
Haviland Lake Trail, June 28, 2004 and June 17, 2009.

The long, leaf-like vertical projection to the right side of the flower in the bottom photograph is the spathe.