Tennessee Yellow-eyed Grass

Description

• This perennial plant reaches anywhere from just over 2 feet to almost 3 1/2 feet tall. Upon the tall, slender stalks, pale yellow flowers with three 0.2-inch-long petals open in the morning to noontime, only to whither in the afternoon. They bloom from August through September. Tennessee yellow-eyed grass grows in clumps from a bulbous base. The leaves of the plant reach up to 20 inches long. The outermost leaves are scale-like, while the larger ones are linear.

  The flower's fruit consists of a capsule that is hidden behind the flower cone's bract. Small, elliptical seeds are also approximately 0.2 inches long.

Habitat and Range

• The Tennessee yellow-eyed grass is found in a variety of habitats, although all are moist to wet all season long. Boggy areas and wet depressions drenched in full sun are ideal locations for this endangered perennial to live. Other habitat examples include wet meadows, along streams, limestone valleys and other peaty sites.

  Populations of Tennessee yellow-eyed grass occur in three different physiographic provinces: the Western Highland Rim in Tennessee; the Cumberland Plateau in Alabama; and the Valley and Ridge Province in Georgia. Each of the seven population sites occupy less than one acre of land.

Reasons for Endangered Status

• Due to its habitat, the Tennessee yellow-eyed grass population has been lost mostly due to agriculture. One example is a population that was in Gordon County, Georgia. This population was completely lost when its habitat was turned into a soybean field.

  Timbering also affects the populations of Tennessee yellow-eyed grass because it leads to increased erosion. Other examples of habitat loss include highways, road improvement and gravel quarrying.

Management

• Most of the populations of Tennessee yellow-eyed grass occur on private lands, which are sometimes difficult to manage. The Tennessee Department of Conservation and Tennessee Nature Conservancy have voluntary protection agreements with the owners of these private lands. In Alabama, the population is near a highway, and the state is aware of the endangered species and dedicated to protecting it.