Bermuda is an overseas territory of the United Kingdom in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, it is situated around 1,770 km (1,100 mi) northeast of Miami, Florida and 1,350 km (840 mi) south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, west of Portugal, northwest of Brazil, 1,759 km (1,093 mi) north of Cuba and north-northeast of Puerto Rico. The nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about 1,030 km (640 mi) west-northwest. Although commonly referred to in the singular, the territory consists of approximately 138 islands, with a total area of 57 km2 (22 sq mi).
Iridaceae is a family of plants in order Asparagales, taking its name from the irises, meaning rainbow, referring to its many colours. There are 66 accepted genera with a total of c. 2244 species worldwide. It includes a number of other well known cultivated plants, such as freesias, gladioli and crocuses.
Sisyrinchium bellum, the western blue-eyed grass or Californian blue-eyed grass, is the common blue-eyed grass of California and Oregon in and west of the Sierra Nevada, its range extending south into Baja California. In parts of its range, western blue-eyed grass has previously been classified as Sisyrinchium eastwoodiae, S. greenei and S. hesperium, but these names are now considered synonyms.
Bermuda, Islands of Bermuda, or The Somers Isles is an Atlantic archipelago, British Overseas Territory, and a former part of Virginia.
The flora and fauna of Bermuda form part of a unique ecosystem due to Bermuda's isolation from the mainland of North America. The wide range of endemic species and the islands form a distinct ecoregion, the Bermuda subtropical conifer forests.
Juniperus bermudiana is a species of juniper endemic to Bermuda. This species is most commonly known as Bermuda cedar, but is also referred to as Bermuda juniper. Historically, this tree formed woodland that covered much of Bermuda. Settlers cleared part of the forest and the tree was used for many purposes including building construction and was especially prized for shipbuilding. However scale insects introduced during World War II devastated the forests, killing over 99% of the Bermuda cedar. Since then, the salt tolerant casuarina has been planted as a replacement species, and a small number of Bermuda cedars have been found to be resistant to the scale insects. Populations of certain endemic birds which had co-evolved with the tree have plummeted as a result of its demise.
Sisyrinchium idahoense, or Idaho blue-eyed grass, is a perennial that is native to western North America. It is not a true grass, but is related to the Iris in the family Iridaceae.
Chiococca alba is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family (Rubiaceae) native to Florida and the extreme southern tip of Texas in the United States, Bermuda, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, the Galápagos, and tropical South America. Common names include David's milkberry, West Indian milkberry, cahinca and West Indian snowberry. The specific epithet, alba, means "white" in Latin and refers to the color of its fruits.
Chiococca is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It currently holds 23 species that are native to Florida, Texas, Mexico, Central America, much of South America, the West Indies, and the Galápagos.
Sisyrinchium californicum is a species of flowering plant in the iris family known by the common names golden blue-eyed grass, yellow-eyed-grass, and golden-eyed-grass. It is native to the west coast of North America from British Columbia to central California, where it grows in moist habitat, often in coastal areas.
Sisyrinchium elmeri is a species of flowering plant in the iris family known by the common name Elmer's blue-eyed grass. It is endemic to California, where it is known from many of the mountain ranges from the Klamath Mountains through the Sierra Nevada to the San Bernardino Mountains. It grows in moist habitat types such as meadows and bogs.
Sisyrinchium funereum is an uncommon species of flowering plant in the iris family known by the common names Funeral Mountain blue-eyed grass and Death Valley blue-eyed-grass. It is endemic to the Mojave Desert of the United States, where it is known only from the Funeral Mountains and Death Valley area in eastern California, and the Ash Meadows area just over the border in Nevada. It grows in wet, highly alkaline habitat, such as seeps and mineral springs.
Sisyrinchium halophilum is a species of flowering plant in the iris family known by the common name Nevada blue-eyed grass. It is native to the western United States in and around the Great Basin and Mojave Desert, where it grows in moist, often highly alkaline habitat, such as seeps, meadows, and mineral springs.
Sisyrinchium micranthum, commonly known as blue pigroot or striped rush-leaf, is a grass-like species in the iris family, Iridaceae. It is native to Mexico, Central America, and South America and widely naturalised elsewhere. The white to cream flowers are between 10 and 20 mm in diameter and have blue to purple centres. These are followed by rounded 3 to 8 mm brown capsules that enclose the dark brown seeds.
Sisyrinchium sarmentosum is a species of flowering plant in the iris family known by the common names mountain blue-eyed grass and pale blue-eyed-grass. It is native to the Pacific Northwest of North America, where it is known from a part of the Cascade Mountains in Washington and Oregon.
Olsynium filifolium , or Bermudiana filifolia, is the only species of the iris family native to the Falkland Islands. It is much better known by its former name Sisyrinchium filifolium. Although it is no longer as common as it once was, it is widely distributed on the islands, and favours temperate dwarf shrub heath. It is also found in Patagonia.
Sisyrinchium bermudiana, known as Bermudiana or, along with other members of the genus, as blue-eyed-grass, is a flower of the genus Sisyrinchium that is indigenous to the Atlantic archipelago, and British Overseas Territory, of Bermuda. The plant appears and blooms in the spring. It has been used as a totemic flower by Bermudians, and appears in art, jewellery, banknotes and elsewhere. Long believed to be limited to Bermuda, the plant has also been found around Lough Erne and Lough Melvin in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, where it is known as feilistrín gorm, or blue-eyed grass.
Carex bermudiana, the Bermuda sedge, is a sedge endemic to the islands of Bermuda. It is found on damp forest floors and in peatmarshes and has become extremely rare. The Bermuda sedge was listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in November 2014 with Endangered status. This species is listed on the Bermuda Protected Species Act.
