COMMELINACE.^— SPIDERWORT 



FAMILY 



SPIDERWORT 



Tradescdntia Virginidna 



Named in honor of John Tradescant, gardener to Charles 

 I. of England. Wort is the old Saxon name for plant. 



A native perennial, transferred to the garden. Found 



on the border of moist thickets, also in dry, sandy places. 

 New York to the Dakotas, southward to Virginia and 



Kentucky. July-September. 



Stem. — One to three feet high, erect, leafy, mucilagi- 

 nous. 



Leaves. — Alternate, parallel-veined, lance-linear, keeled, 

 ten to fourteen inches long, sheathing at the base. 



Flowers. — Show}'', violet-blue, rarely white; borne in 

 many-flowered terminal or axillary clusters which are 

 subtended by leaf-like bracts; pedicels slender, with long 

 white hairs. 



Sepals. — Three, ovate, acute, or obtuse, hairy. 



Petals. — Three, orbicular, alternate with the sepals, 

 blue, sometimes white. 



Stamens. — Six, showy; filaments violet, bearded; an- 

 thers brilliant orange. 



Pistil — Ovary oblong, three-celled; style threadlike; 

 stigma capitate. 



Fruit. — Capsule three-celled, several-seeded. 



The Spiderwort is rather an unusual type of flower. 

 The blossoms are at the summit of what looks like an 



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