512 COMMELYNACEiE. (SPIDERWORT FAMILY.) 
inclosing the flowers, which expand for a single morning and are 
recurved on their pedicel before and afterwards. Petals blue. 
(Dedicated to the early Dutch botanists J. and G. Comimlyn.) 
1. C* ailgllStifolia, Michx. Stems usually reclining and root¬ 
ing at the joints ; leaves lanceolate or linear-lanceolate; spathe heart- 
shaped, folded together; peduncle usually divided, the smaller branch 
1-flowered or sterile; odd petal inconspicuous and colorless , ovate-lan¬ 
ceolate , nearly sessile , about the length of the lateral sepals; pod 2- 
celled. 1J.—Damp rich woods and banks, S. New York to Michi¬ 
gan and southward. July-Oct. — Hairy or nearly smooth : sheaths 
bearded or beardless at the throat. 
2. C. Yirginica, L. Stems upright, smooth ; leaves lanceo¬ 
late-oblong, taper-pointed, the upper surface and margins rough back¬ 
wards ; sheaths fringed with rusty bristles; spalhes crowded and 
nearly sessile, broadly dilated ; peduncle several-flowered; odd petal 
blue like the others , but shorter, round-ovate , raised on a claw; pod 3- 
celled. — Alluvial shaded river-banks, Penn., Ohio, and southward. 
U — Leaves 5 ; - 7 1 long, V -2f wide. 
2. TRADE SC ANTI A, L. Spiderwort. 
Flowers regular. Sepals herbaceous. Petals all alike, ovate, 
sessile. Stamens all fertile : filaments bearded. Pod 2 -3-celled, 
the cells 1 - 2-seeded. — Perennials. Stems mucilaginous, most¬ 
ly upright, nearly simple, leafy. Leaves keeled. Flowers ephe¬ 
meral, in umbelled clusters, axillary and terminal; the floral 
leaves nearly like the others. (Named for Tradescant, gardener 
to Charles the First.) 
* Umbels sessile , clustered , usually involucrate by 2 leaves. 
T. Yirginica, L. (Common Spiderwort.) Leaves lan¬ 
ceolate-linear , elongated , tapering from the sheathing base to the point, 
ciliate, more or less open; umbels terminal , many-flowered.— Moist 
woods, from W. New York westward and southward: commonly cul¬ 
tivated. May-Aug. — Plant either smooth or hairy ; the large flow¬ 
ers blue, in gardens often purplish or white. 
T. pildsa, Lehm. Leaves broadly lanceolate from a narrow¬ 
ed base, pointed, downy-hairy both sides, minutely ciliate; umbels 
many-flowered, in very dense terminal and axillary clusters; pedicels 
and calyx glandular-hairy. (T. flexuosa, Raf.) — Ohio and south¬ 
ward. June-Sept. — Stem stout, smooth below, 2P-3?high, often 
branched, zigzag above, at length with a close cluster of small (I 
broad) lilac-blue flowers in all the upper axils. 
* * Umbels long-peduncled, naked. 
