Sisyrinchium albilapidense

Sisyrinchium albilapidense is a erect, perennial herbaceous plant that grows 9–24 cm tall. The plant has thin, fibrous roots, about 3 mm thick. Above these grows a tuft of linear-attenuate, upright basal leaves, 4.5–15 cm long by 1–1.5 mm wide. The leaves are smooth (glabrous) and stiff with pointed (acute) tips. The flowers are borne on an unbranched, upright stem 1.1–1.4 mm wide that rises 6–20 cm from the base. The stem is rigid, with narrow, straight-edged wings. It terminates in a narrow bract, 1.5–8 cm long, that has papery edges at the base. Arising from the stem at the point where the terminal bract connects is a small group of flower clusters, called a fasciculiform synflorescence. This synflorescence consists of 1–3 closely clustered rhipidia—a rhipidium is an alternately branched group of flowers contained between a pair of spathes (small bracts) that is characteristic of the Iridaceae family. In the case of Sisyrinchium albilapidense, each rhipidium begins with a pedicel 1–18 mm long (sometimes almost absent or subsessile) and bears 3–5 flowers. The lower valve of each spathe is 11–14 mm long by 1.6 mm wide and the upper valve is 12–14 mm long by 1.6 mm wide. The shape of the spathe valves is acute to long apiculate and they are glabrous, with a membranaceous (papery) margin for the first 1–1.2 mm. …

Sisyrinchium albilapidense has been recorded only from its type locality at Pedras Brancas, 10 km southeast of Lages, in Santa Catarina state, Brazil. The surrounding habitat is a mix of grassland, forest and rock outcrops, at an elevation of approximately 900 m. This is a type of vegetation characterized as subtropical mixed forest.