Sisyrinchium striatum
You rarely see this Argentinian (and Chilean) garden favourite for sale in garden centres. You are more likely to find it in yogurt pots at plant sales and jumble sales and this should serve as a mild warning – people don’t dig up valuable plants to give away, only those that they have too much of!
This is a plant that has a bit of an identity crisis and as well as the (I hope) accepted name of Sisyrinchium striatum I was aware that it was also known as Phaiophleps nigricans, a name I almost preferred because I always get the ‘y’s and ‘i’s mixed up in sisyrinchium! But that is not all. It has had a host of different names including Paneguia striata, Bermudiana striata, Ferraria ochroleuca, Marica striata and Moraea sertula – the last three all genera in Iridaceae that I would hardly have thought were similar enough to consider.
What is curious is that, despite the plant being in cultivation for, probably, centuries, and it is naturalised in the south of England at least, it does not have a common name. Officially the common name is satin flower or pale yellow-eyed-grass but I have never heard those used. There is a variegated form that is a bit more interesting in leaf, called ‘Aunt May’.
Sisyrinchiums are a confusing lot and most of the 150 or so species are found in South America and about a third in North America with a few others in other places! Most are small, grassy plants with starry flowers and some are grown on rock gardens.
The plant itself is a tough perennial that has fans of grey green leaves about 40cm high and 2cm wide. It grows best in light soils in full sun and is not as rampant in heavy clay. In late spring the fans produce a central stems, about 80cm high, with many bracts that contain clusters of rounded buds that open, over many weeks, into pale yellow, six-petalled flowers that have five to seven distinct black lines on the reverse of the outer tepals. The flowers only last a day but there are always lots of open flowers from June to August.
Although all this may seem very desirable, there are a couple of problems. When the leaves die they go black and look very unslightly, especially in winter, but worse is the way it seeds. It is essential that you cut off the spent flower spikes as soon as the last flowers fade to prevent seeds being cast all over the garden. The worst thing you can possibly do is plant it among iris, as I once did! The seedlings will pop up among the iris and it is almost impossible to weed them out, so similar do they look. It was a nightmare!
Geoff’s rating
5/10
– you can have too much of a good thing
Garden rating
7/10 – if you have nothing better
The Biking Gardener 
Very easy to remove though. As you know I have loads, but it never thrived in the borders and has self seeded moving into other areas it likes better. I love that v pale yellow especially in combination with blue. Tones well with pink too. Fab very long border I saw a few years ago at Hampton Court, in Herts. All Pale yellow & blue. Ever been there? Overall a great fairly recently renovated garden.
Yes, maybe I was a little hard on it because it is a useful and pretty plant and, as you say, it goes well with both pink and blue. Not been to that garden.
Well worth visiting for anyone in that area.
Poor old sisy, you’re a hard man to please!
LOL. I am maybe 🙂
Hi, I wouldn’t be without this as many people who come round the garden often say what’s that, is looks lovely, then when they know,say they didn’t know it could look so nice. But it does look good all mixed up with other plants and I don’t get many seedlings more’s the pity. Maybe it’s my slightly clay soil as you say. I think I will save a ‘small’ amount of seed just in case……. Sue.
It could be that you have clay soil that it doesnt seed around menacingly – which is a good thing. I agree that it is a lovely thing – and the fact that you dont have bare soil and it is growing through other things is another reason too. When it went mad in the iris beds it was because the soil had to be bare for the iris and it was a devil!