236 



top of the mountain, chiefly in thickets. The species is apparently 

 a late bloomer ; although the season was far advanced the plants 

 had not produced any capsules. 



II. Tradescantia pilosa J. G. C. Lehm. 



Tradescantia pilosa J. G. C. Lehm. Nov. Act. Leop. 14 : Part 2, 

 'i22.pl. 4.8. 1828. 



Tradescantia fiexuosa ^zi. A\\. ]o\xxn. \^Q. 1832. 



Tradescajitia axillaris Raf. New Fl. Part 2, 87. 1836. 



Tradescantia axillaris var. flexuosa Raf. New Fl. Part 2, 87. 

 1836. 



Tradescantia Virginica var. fiexuosa S. Wats. ; Wats & Coult. 



in A. Gray, Man. Ed. 6: 539. 1890. 



Perennial, stout, pilose and more or less puberulent, dull green ; 

 stems erect or ascending, 4-8 dm. tall, flexuous, often puberulent, 

 or glabrate, leafy to the top, simple or sparingly branched ; leaves 

 lanceolate or sometimes rather narrowly lanceolate, 1-2.5 dm. long, 

 acuminate, dark green above, paler beneath; sheaths I-I.5 cm. 

 long, ciliate, inconspicuously ribbed ; involucre of 2-3 bracts simi- 

 lar to the leaves, one about twice as long as the others ; pedicels 

 normally slender, 1.5-2 cm. long, villous-pilose, or often glabrate; 

 flowers pale blue or deep blue, large, 2.5-3 cm. broad, the cymes 

 usually crowded at maturity; sepals ovate or oblong, about 7 mm. 

 long, apparently lanceolate by their involute edges, two strongly 

 hooded, the third not hooded, mostly villous-pilose ; petals ovate- 

 orbicular, obtuse ; capsule globose-oblong, 5 mm. long, constricted 

 at the middle, pilose at the summit ; seeds oblong or ovoid, 2-3 

 mm. long. 



Thickets and shady hillsides, Ohio to Missouri, south to West 

 Virginia and Tennessee. Naturalized about Bartram's Garden, 

 Philadelphia. May to August. 



In size, habit and leaf form, especially in the breadth of the 

 leaves, this is our most conspicuous Tradescantia ; the lanceolate 

 leaves with their pilose pubescence, the normally flexuous stems 

 and the usually axillary flower-clusters readily separate it from all 

 other species. In range it is campestrian with Kentucky and 

 Tennessee as its center of distribution; it is unknown west of the 

 Mississippi river except in eastern Missouri. 



