SPIDERWORT FAMILY 



COMMELINACEAE 



SPIDERWORT 



Tradcscantia virginiana L. 



The Spiderwort family is small and relatively unim- 

 portant, but it contains some well-known plants, among 

 which the Wandering Jew, commonly used as a flower-box 



and greenhouse plant, is 

 universally recognizedi The 

 genus name Trade scantia 

 was given the Spiderworts 

 in memory of John Trades- 

 cant, gardener to King 

 Charles I of England. 



The species Virginian a formerly 

 did not occur as far west as Illinois but 

 it has been extensively grown in gardens, 

 and having escaped from cultivation is 

 now a common wild flower in this state. 

 Its native soil is Connecticut to South 

 Carolina. It can grow well in a wide 

 variety of soils and therefore may be 

 found on wet meadows as well as dry 

 hillsides. It produces a cluster of 

 stems 1-2 feet tall. 



Each flower consists of 3 green 

 sepals, 3 purplish blue petals, 6 stamens 

 and I pistil. The stamens are conspicu- 

 ous because the filaments are purple and bearded with 

 long purple hairs, whereas the anthers are bright 

 yellow. The flowers bloom in late spring and summer, and each 

 one remains open for only a few hours. After the petals have 

 closed, the pedicel curves downward so that the fruit develops 

 in a recurved position. This is a 2 or 3-celled capsule with i or 2 

 seeds in each cell. 



The Short-stemmed Spiderwort, Tiuidescantia brevicaulis Raf., 

 is often stemless or nearly so, and with mostly basal grasslike leaves 

 6-12 inches long. The 4-12-flowered umbel is sessile in bracts that are 

 similar to the leaves but more elongated, and the slender pedicels 

 are 1-2 inches long and hairy. Sepals are oblong and hairy, and the 

 corolla, about i inch broad, is blue or more commonly rose-purple. 



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