SPIDERWORT FAMILY 27 
or split. Flowers in terminal cymes or umbels, bisexual, often 
zygomorphic. Sepals 3, persistent, foliaceous or colored. Petals 
3, soon falling or liquefying. Stamens 6 or fewer, often some 
of them abortive. Ovary 2-3-celled; style single; stigma 
entire or 3-lobed. Fruit a 2-3-celled, 2-3-valved capsule; seeds 
solitary or several in each cell.* 
I. TRADESCANTIA L. 
Perennial, stem simple or branched. Leaves very narrow. 
Flowers in terminal and axillary bracted umbels, actinomor- 
phic, 1 in. broad. Sepals 8, herbaceous. Petals 3, soon fall- 
ing, or liquefying to jelly. Stamens 6, sometimes 38 shorter 
than the others; filaments bearded or smooth. Ovary 3-celled, 
with 2 ovules in each cell; pedicels recurved in fruit. Capsule 
3-celled, 3-valved, 3-6-seeded.* 
1. T. virginiana L. Spiperwort. Stem erect, stout, smooth, or 
with long, soft hairs, 1-2 ft. high. Leaves linear, keeled, often 
purple-veined, long, taper-pointed, 1 ft. or more in length. Bracts 
similar to the leaves. Umbels sessile, 2-many-flowered, flowers in 2 
rows in the bud. Petals blue or purple, twice as long as the sepals. 
Stamens blue, filaments densely bearded. Capsule ovoid or oblong. 
On dry, sandy soil.* 
2. T. pilosa Lehm. Harry Sprperwort. Stem stout, erect or 
zigzag, branched, with long, soft hairs, or nearly smooth, 1-2 ft. 
high. Leaves linear-oblong, taper-pointed at the apex. narrowed at 
the base, hairy on both sides. Umbels axillary and terminal, many- 
flowered. Pedicels and sepals with soft, glandular hairs. Flowers 
blue or purple, 3-1 in. wide. Seeds pitted. In rich soil.* 
I. COMMELINA L. 
Annual or perennial, stem branching, erect or procumbent, 
smooth or downy. Leaves petioled or sessile, entire, the floral 
ones heart-shaped, folded, and forming a spathe inclosing the 
base of the cymes. Flowers not actinomorpbic. Sepals mostly 
colored, 1 of them smaller. Petals blue, unequal, 2 of them 
kidney-shaped and long-clawed, the third one smaller. Stamens 
6, only 3 of them fertile; filaments smooth. Capsule 1—3-celled; 
seeds 1-2 in each cell.* 
