238 COMMELINACEAE 
bracts wholly unlike the leaves. Sepals 3. Petals 3, white or colored, distinct. Stamens 
6: filaments glabrous. Capsule loculicidally 3-valved. Seed with a rough testa. 
1. Tradescantella Floridana (S. Wats.) Small. Stems creeping, slender, more or 
less matted, flaccid, 1-3 dm. long: leaf-blades ovate or ovate-lanceolate, 1-2 cm. long, 
thinnish, acute, ciliolate; sheaths funnelform, minutely roughened, fringed with long 
white cilia: cymes solitary or 2 together, terminal, their peduncles 0.5-1.5 cm. long, sub- 
tended by ovate or ovate-lanceolate bracts: pedicels filiform, 2-6 mm. long, villous or 
somewhat glandular: sepals ovate, about 2-3 mm. long, acutish, purple, pubescent, cilio- 
late: petals white: filaments glabrous: anther-sacs contiguous: capsules oval, nearly 2 
mm. long, glabrous. [Tradescantia Floridana S. Wats. ] 
In damp shady places, peninsular Florida. Thoughout the year. 
4. TRADESCANTIA L. 
Perennial caulescent herbs, sometimes with a mucila ginous sap. Leaves alternate : 
blades often elongated, usually narrow. Cymes umbel-like, terminal, subtended by an 
involucre of 1-3 (mostly 2), bracts similar to the leaves. Sepals 3, distinct, nearly equal. 
Petals 3, showy, sessile, delicate. Stamens 6, all fertile, those opposite the petals some- 
times shorter than the others: filaments filiform. Capsule loculicidally 3-valved, dry. 
Seeds 3-6, more or less sculptured. SPIDERWORT. 
Leaf-blades linear or linear-lanceolate, 12-50 times longer than broad, more or less 
involutely folded. 
Stems abbreviated, 1 em. to rarely 8 cm. long: bracts imostly longer than the 
leaves. 1. T. brevicaulis. 
Stems elongated, 10-100 em. long: bracts mostly shorter than the leaves. 
Sheaths not imbricated at the base of the stem. 
Stems glabrous, at least below the upper internodes: pubescence, when 
present on other parts, villous and silvery, or velvety. 
Plants bright green: pedicels pilose or villous: sepals pilose or villous, 
becoming membranous. 
Pedicels and ote pilose with gland-tipped hairs. 
Bracts usually much broader than the leaves near the sac-like 
bases. 2. T. bracteata. 
Bracts usually narrower than the leaves, the base not conspicu- 
ously sac-like. 3. T. occidentalis. 
Pedicels and sepals villous with simple hairs. 4. T. Virginiana. 
Plants glaucous: pedicels glabrous or velvety : sepals often with a tuft 
of hairs at the apex, leathery. 
Bracts of the involucre much longer than the cyme. 
Pedicels glabrous: bases of the involucral bracts not sac-like. 5. T. reitera: 
Pedicels pubescent : bases of the involucral bracts conspicuously 
sac-like, 6. T. gigantea. 
Braets of the involucre shorter than the cyme. 7. T. incarnata. 
Stems hirsute with brownish or whitish hairs. 8. T. hirsuticaulis. 
Sheaths imbricated for 5-20 em. at the base of the stem. ` 
Plants densely glandular: sepals linear-laneeolate or lanceolate-oblong, 
8-10 mm. long. 
Stems 1-3 dm. tall: leaf-blades 0.8-2 dm. long: Texas species. 9. T. humilis. 
Stems 4-5 dm. tall: leaf-blades 2-4 dm. long: Florida species. 10. T. longifolia. 
Plant glabrous, exeept the villous sheaths at the base of the stem : sepals 
ovate or oblong, 7 mm. long. ll. T. foliosa. 
Leaf-blades ovate to lanceolate or narrowly lanceolate, 2-10 times longer than 
broad, flat. 
Stems glabrous. or pubescent with very short hairs. 
Leaí-blades 2-3 times longer than broad, 1-7 em. long. 
Sepals pubescent chiefly toward the base: native Texan species. 12. T. micrantha. 
Sepals pubescent chiefly toward the apex : introduced species. 18. T. fluminensis. 
Leaf-blades 5-10 times longer than broad, 10-25 em. long. 
Slender: stems strict: cymes solitary and terminal or on corymbose 
branches: Alleghenian species. 14. T. montana. 
Stout: stems zigzag: cymes terminal and sessile in the upper axils: eam- 
estrian species. : 15. T. pilosa. 
Stems clothed with long villous hairs. 16. T. comata. 
1. Tradescantia brevicaülis Raf. Stems usually clustered, erect, almost wanting, 
or 1-8 em. tall, simple: leaf-blades linear or narrowly linear, 1.5-3 dm. long, flattish, 
acute or sometimes rather obtuse; sheaths*1-2.5 cm. long, villous, mostly imbricated : 
bracts 2, nearly equal, longer than the leaves: pedicels stoutish, 3.5-5.5 em. long, villous: 
cymes 5-15-flowered: sepals ovate or oblong-ovate, 10-11 mm. long, obtuse: corolla 
mostly purplish blue, about 2 cm. broad: petals suborbicular, obtuse, delicately veined : 
mature capsule not seen. 
On hillsides and in woods, Illinois to Missouri and Tennessee. Spring. 
2. Tradescantia bracteata Small. Stems rather stocky, often clustered, erect or 
ascending, 1-2 dm. tall or rarely somewhat taller, sometimes sparingly branched : leaf- 
blades broadly linear or linear-lanceolate, 1-2 dm. long, involutely folded, curved ; 
