From Blue to Purple 



Spiderwort; Widow's or Job's Tears 



{Tradescantia yirginiana) Spiderwort family 



Flotvers — Purplish blue, rarely white, showy, ephemeral, i to 2 

 in. broad ; usually several flowers, but more drooping buds, 

 clustered and seated between long blade-like bracts at end 

 of stem. Calyx of 3 sepals, much longer than capsule. 

 Corolla of 3 regular petals ; 6 fertile stamens, bearded ; anthers 

 orange ; i pistil. Stem .• 8 in. to 3 ft. tall, fleshy, erect, 

 mucilaginous, leafy. Leaves : Opposite, long, blade-like, 

 keeled, clasping, or sheathing stem at base. Fruit: 3-celled 

 capsule. 



Preferred Habitat — Rich, moist woods, thickets, gardens. 



Flowering Season — May — August. 



Distribution — New York and Virginia westward to South Dakota 

 and Arkansas. 



As so very many of our blue flowers are merely naturalized 

 immigrants from Europe, it is well to know we have sent to 

 England at least one native that was considered fit to adorn the 

 grounds of Hampton Court. John Tradescant, gardener to 

 Charles I., for whom the plant and its kin were named, had 

 seeds sent him by a relative in the Virginia colony ; and before 

 long the deep azure blossoms with their golden anthers were seen 

 in gardens on both sides of the Atlantic — another one of the many 

 instances where the possibilities of our wild flowers under culti- 

 vation had to be first pointed out to us by Europeans. 



Like its relative the day-flower, the spiderwort opens for 

 part of a day only. In the morning it is wide awake and pert ; 

 early in the afternoon its petals have begun to retreat within the 

 calyx, until presently they become "dissolved in tears," like Job 

 or the traditional widow. What was flower only a few hours 

 ago is now a fluid jelly that trickles at the touch. To-morrow 

 fresh buds will open, and a continuous succession of bloom may 

 be relied upon for a long season. Since its stigma is widely sep- 

 arated from the anthers and surpasses them, it is probable the 

 flower cannot fertilize itself, but is wholly dependent on the 

 female bees and other insects that come to it for pollen. Note 

 the hairs on the stamens provided as footholds for the bees. 



The plant is a cousin of the " Wandering Jew " {J. repens), 

 so commonly grown either in water or earth in American sitting- 

 rooms. In a shady lane within New York city limits, where a 

 few stems were thrown out one spring about five years ago, the 

 entire bank is now covered with the vine, that has rooted by its 

 hairy joints, and, in spite of frosts and blizzards, continues to 

 bear its true-blue flowers throughout the summer. 



