Tradescantia ohiensis
Bluejacket
Ohio Spiderwort
Florida native
A frequent plant of disturbed sites throughout many Florida counties north of Lake Okeechobee. The range extends from Texas to Minnesota and eastward to the Atlantic through all states except Vermont, and also into Ontario.
Bluejacket flowers are made up of three symetrical blue-violet (rarely white) petals having six stamens with hairy filaments. The filament hairs are made up of a chain of single cells that can be seen with low magnification. The flowers are ephemeral, opening in the morning and fading in the afternoon. The apices of the three sepals have hairy tufts and there are one to three leaflike bracts below the cluster of drooping flowers. Tradescantia ohiensis blooms appear all year in Florida.
The leaves are linear to lanceolate, folded lengthwise and arched, giving the plant the appearance of a spider , leading to one of its common names - spiderwort. The stem stores water, allowing spiderwort to thrive in dry habitats.
Tradescantia ohiensis is a member of the Commelinaceae - Spiderwort family.
Other species of the Tradescantia genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
Tradescantia fluminensis - SMALL-LEAF SPIDERWORT
Tradescantia roseolens - LONGLEAF SPIDERWORT
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Mar 04, 2020