''Sisyrinchium bermudiana'', known as Bermudiana or, along with other members of the genus, as blue-eyed grass, is a flower of the genus ''

Sisyrinchium ''Sisyrinchium'' is a large genus of annual to perennial flowering plant in the family Iridaceae. Native to the New World, the species are known as blue-eyed grasses and, though not true grasses and in varieties with flower colors other than blu ...

'' (of the iris family) that is indigenous to the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands. Examples of archipelagos include: the Indonesian Arc ...

, and British Overseas Territory, of

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

. 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.Government of Bermuda Department of Conservation Services: ''Bermudiana''
Long believed to be limited to Bermuda, the plant has also been found around Lough Erne and Lough Melvin in

County Fermanagh County Fermanagh ( ; ) is one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the six counties of Northern Ireland. The county covers an area of 1,691 km2 (653 sq mi) and has a population of 61,805 ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, where it is known as ''feilistrín gorm'', or ''blue-eyed grass''.

Taxonomy

''Sisyrinchium bermudiana'' was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

in 1753. The first described species in the genus ''Sisyrinchium'', it is thus the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

. Linnaeus's specific epithet ''bermudiana'' was not an adjective (and thus does not have to agree in gender with ''Sisyrinchium'') but a noun in apposition, derived from the earlier genus name ''Bermudiana''. He showed this by capitalizing the epithet, but modern practice is to use lower-case for all epithets.

References

Flora of Bermuda bermudiana Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Iridaceae-stub