460 



COMMELINACEAE. 



VOL. I 



3. TRADESCANTIA L. Sp. PL 288. 1753. 



Perennial, somewhat mucilaginous herbs, with mostly narrow and elongated leaves, and 

 showy regular flowers in terminal or terminal and axillary umbels subtended by leaf-like 

 or scarious bracts. Sepals 3, herbaceous. Petals 3, obovate, ovate or orbicular, sessile. 

 Stamens 6, all alike and fertile, or those opposite the petals shorter ; filaments bearded or 

 glabrous. Ovary 3-celled, the cells 2-ovuled. Capsule 3-celled, loculicidally 3-valved, 3-12- 

 seeded. [In honor of John Tradescant, gardener of Charles I, died 1638.] 



About 35 species, natives of tropical and temperate America. Besides the following, some 6 

 others occur in the southern United States. Type species : Tradescantia virginiana L. 



Leaves linear or linear-lanceolate, 12-50 times longer than broad. 



Stems i' to rarely 4' long; bracts longer than the leaves. i. T. brevicaulis. 



Stems elongated, 4' 3 long; bracts mostly shorter than the leaves. 

 Foliage bright green ; pedicels, like the sepals, pilose or villous. 

 Pedicels and sepals pilose with gland-tipped hairs. 



Stems 4'-! tall; bracts lanceolate, the bases sac-like, whitish, broader than the leaves. 



2. T. bracteata. 



Stems i-2 l / 2 tall; bracts linear, the bases not sac-like, green, narrower than the 

 leaves. 3. T. occidentalis. 



Pedicels and sepals villous with non-glandular hairs. 4. T. virginiana. 



Foliage glaucous; pedicels glabrous; sepals with a tuft of hairs at the apex. 



5. T. reftexa. 

 Leaves lanceolate, 2-10 times longer than broad. 



Slender; stems strict; cymes solitary and terminal or on corymbed branches; species Alleghanian. 



6. T. montana. 

 Stout ; stems zigzag ; cymes terminal and sessile in the upper axils ; species campestrian. 



7. T. pilosa. 



i. Tradescantia brevicaulis Raf. Short- 

 stemmed Spiderwort. Fig. 1154. 



Tradescantia brevicaulis Raf. Atl. Journ. 150. 1832. 

 Tradescantia virginica var. villosa S. Wats, in A. Gray, 

 Man. Ed. 6, 539. 1890. 



Villous with long spreading hairs, stems only i'-4' 

 high, the plant often appearing nearly acaulescent; 

 leaves mostly basal, 6'-i2' long, 4" -8" wide, grass- 

 like, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, ciliate, at least at 

 the base, glabrous or villous toward the apex ; bracts 

 similar to the leaves, but usually more elongated ; 

 umbel 4-i2-flowered, sessile in the bracts, the pedi- 

 cels slender, i'-2 f long, villous; sepals oblong; 

 corolla about i' broad, blue or rose-purple. 



In dry soil, Indiana to Kentucky and Missouri. April- 

 May. 



2. Tradescantia bracteata Small. Long-bracted 

 Spiderwort. Fig. 1155. 



Tradescantia bracteata Small; Britt. & Br. 111. Fl. 3: 510. 

 1898. 



Perennial, deep green, glabrous to the inflorescence, 

 or nearly so. Stems erect, 4'-i2' tall, simple or spar- 

 ingly branched ; leaves linear to linear-lanceolate, 4'-8' 

 long, long-acuminate ; sheaths paler than the leaf-blades, 

 conspicuously ribbed, glabrous, or the upper ones some- 

 times ciliate; involucres of 2 bracts, these broader than 

 the leaves, more or less strongly saccate at the base, 

 ciliate and often sparingly villous on the back; umbel- 

 like cymes few-flowered ; pedicels glandular-pubescent, 

 i'-i' long; sepals ovate-lanceolate to elliptic-lanceolate, 

 glandular, more or less involute; corolla blue or reddish, 

 about i' broad. 



In sandy soil, Minnesota to South Dakota, south to 

 Missouri, Kansas and Texas. Spring and summer. Ascends 

 to 7500 ft. in the Black Hills. 



