Xyris

"Yellow-eyed grass" redirects here. The term may also refer to Sisyrinchium californicum.

Xyris is a genus of flowering plants, the yelloweyed grasses, in the yellow-eyed-grass family. The genus counts over 250 species, widespread over much of the world, with the center of distribution in the Guianas.^[2][3][4]

Xyris
Xyris complanata
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Xyridaceae
Genus:	Xyris L.[1]
Synonyms[1]
Xuris Raf. orth. var.

The leaves are mostly distichous, linear, flat, and thin or round with a conspicuous sheath at the base. They are arranged in a basal aggregation. The small, yellow flowers are borne on a spherical or cylindrical spike or head (inflorescence). Each flower grows from the axil of a leathery bract. The fruit is a nonfleshy, dehiscent capsule. In Xyris complanata, a single flower bud on the spike appears in the morning, and expands into a conspicuous flower during the afternoon hours.^[3]

The APG IV system, of 2016, places the genus in family Xyridaceae, into the order Poales in the clade commelinids, in the monocots.

Species include:^{[5] [3]}

• Xyris ambigua Beyrich ex Kunth
• Xyris andina Malme
• Xyris arenicola
• Xyris asperula
• Xyris baldwiniana Schultes
• Xyris bayardii
• Xyris brevifolia Michaux
• Xyris bulbosa
• Xyris caroliniana Walter
• Xyris chapmanii
• Xyris communis
• Xyris complanata R.Br.
• Xyris decipiens N.E.Br.
• Xyris difformis Chapman
• Xyris drummondii Malme
• Xyris elliottii Chapman
• Xyris elongata Rudge
• Xyris exilis Doust & B.J.Conn
• Xyris fimbriata Elliott
• Xyris flabelliformis Chapman
• Xyris flexifolia R.Br.
• Xyris flexuosa
• Xyris floridana
• Xyris gracilis R.Br.
• Xyris gracillima F.Muell.
• Xyris inaequalis N.A.Wakef.
• Xyris indica L.
• Xyris indivisa N.A.Wakef.
• Xyris iridifolia
• Xyris isoetifolia Kral,
• Xyris jupicai Richard
• Xyris juncea R.Br.
• Xyris lacera R.Br.
• Xyris lanata R.Br.
• Xyris laxiflora F.Muell.
• Xyris laxifolia Martius
• Xyris longisepala Kral
• Xyris louisianica
• Xyris macrocephala
• Xyris marginata Rendle
• Xyris montana Ries
• Xyris muelleri Malme
• Xyris neglecta
• Xyris operculata Labill.
• Xyris pallescens
• Xyris panacea
• Xyris papillosa
• Xyris paradisiaca
• Xyris pauciflora Willd.
• Xyris platylepis Chapman
• Xyris roycei N.A.Wakef.
• Xyris scabrifolia R. M. Harper
• Xyris serotina Chapman
• Xyris smalliana Nash
• Xyris stricta Chapman
• Xyris subalata
• Xyris tennesseensis Kral
• Xyris torta Smith
• Xyris ustulata L.A.Nilsson

Stand of mostly Xyris complanata in a small wetland