Petals: 6

Flowers are blue, violet or white, with a yellow center. There are 5 types of blue-eyed grass that are common in NC. Annual blue eyed grass (S. rosulatum) can be distinguished by a maroon band at the base of the petals. The other 4 types are more difficult to distinguish: Narrowleaf blue-eyed grass (S. angustifolium) with leaves less than 1/8 in. wide and flowers less than 1/2 in. wide; Atlantic blue-eyed grass (S. atlanticum), with leaves pale bluish-green, and flowers (usually 2) 0.5-0.75 in. wide, ovaries and capsules are black; Needle-tip blue-eyed grass (S. mucronatum) with extremely narrow grasslike leaves and flowers 2-4 in a cluster, 0.5-0.75 in. wide overtopped by a sharp-tipped bract, spathe bracts purple; and Nash’s blue-eyed grass (S. nashii) with leaves to 12 in. long and flowers 0.5-1 in. wide.