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 flower close-up
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Xyridaceae
Genus: Xyris
L.[1]
Synonyms[2]
  • Kotsjiletti Adans.
  • Xuris Adans.
  • Xyroides Thouars
  • Ramotha Raf.
  • Synoliga Raf.
  • Schismaxon Steud.

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:[1] [3]

Stand of mostly Xyris complanata in a small wetland

References

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  1. ^ a b "Xyris". Australian Plant Name Index (APNI), IBIS database. Centre for Plant Biodiversity Research, Australian Government, Canberra. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
  2. ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  3. ^ a b c "Xyris". Flora of North America. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
  4. ^ Flora of China, Vol. 24 Page 4, 黄眼草属 huang yan cao shu, Xyris Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 42. 1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5; 25, 1754.
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