The grass-widow (Olsynium douglasii) is one of the first wildflowers to appear each year, blooming as early as mid-winter in Western Washington and late winter and earliest spring in Central Washington, often before most other plants have roused from winter dormancy. This precocious arrival, or perhaps the grass-widow’s disappearance thereafter for the remainder of the year, may have earned it its unusual common name, as a “grass widow” or “grass widower” is someone whose significant other is absent for an extended period.
Range and Habitat
The grass-widow ranges from British Columbia to northern California and east into Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and Nevada. It is most common on the shrub-steppe and pine forests that stretch between the Cascade and Rocky mountains. This environment is characterized by moist, even muddy spring conditions followed by months of sun-baked drought. On the open sagelands, the grass-widow endures relentless winds and frozen earth undaunted, after which it dies back to its underground rhizomes1Rhizomes are thickened stems that grow along or under the soil surface and bear shoots above and roots below. to wait out the searing summer that naturally follows. In Western Washington, look for it along the rocky outcrops of coastal bluffs and oak savannas on the sea islands and other areas where the shifting rainshadow of the Olympic Mountains and Vancouver Island Ranges creates a similar pattern of vernal moisture followed by summer drought (albeit without the drastic temperature variation of the shrub-steppe).
Blooms and Plant Features
The grass-widow’s somewhat appressed sprays of distinctive blooms and tough, lanceolate leaves give it away as a member of the Iris family. These features likely also lend another of its common names: “purple-eyed grass”. The grass-widow occurs both singly and in dense clumps of multiple stems. Each stem has up to several basal leaves and similar bracts2Bracts are leaves that occur within or just below a flower cluster and often differ in size, form, and sometimes color from ordinary leaves. that clasp the stem like sheaths and continue up its length to a height of as much as twelve inches/thirty centimeters, although usually much less. The blooms are typically a bright, Tyrian purple, but can vary from deep violet through lavender and pink to pure white or occasionally striped, all with a finely textured sheen that prompts the common name “satin flower”. These expressive, outward-facing blooms swivel in the slightest breeze on thin pedicels3A pedicel is the stem that joins an individual flower to the main stalk of an inflorescence. that branch from the axil of the highest bract. Although the grass-widow blooms from the tips of its stems, the last bract on a stem always extends well beyond the buds, giving them the appearance of emerging mid-stem.
The grass-widow is North America’s sole Olsynium species, which consists of two varieties, var. douglasii, found on both sides of the Cascades, and var. inflatum, occurring only east of the mountain range. Var. inflatum is distinguished by the bulbous swelling where its stamen4A stamen is the male reproductive structure of a flower, consisting of an anther in which pollen is produced and usually a slender filament that attaches it to the flower. An individual flower typically has many stamens. filaments join, the elongated points of its tepals5Tepals are undistinguished petals and sepals. (Sepals are modified leaves that enclose a flower bud and are usually green, but in some species have adopted the form of petals, in which case they and the petals are called “tepals.”), its flatter and more open flower form, its paler rose to lavender hues, and its production of up to three blooms per stem. Conversely, var. douglasii is noted for its rounded or more bluntly pointed tepals, its often bell-shaped floral profile, its deeper bloom color, and its no more than two flowers per stem.
Typical Central Washington habitat:
Typical Western Washington habitat:
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