5. Tradescantia Reflexa Raf. Reflexed Spiderwort

Fig. 1158

Tradescantia reflexa Raf. Atl. Journ. 150. 1832.

Perennial, glabrous, glaucous. Stems erect, 1°-3° tall, nearly straight, commonly much branched; leaves linear, 8'-2o' long, straight, or somewhat curved, long-attenuate; sheaths large, 5"-15" long; involucres of 2 unequal finally reflexed leaf-like bracts; umbel-like cymes usually dense at maturity; pedicels slender, 10"-13" long, recurved; sepals oblong or elliptic, apparently lanceolate by the involute edges, 4-5" long, hooded, mostly with a tuft of hairs at the apex; corolla blue or red, 10"-15" broad, the petals suborbicular; capsule ovoid to oblong, 2 1/2 '-3" long, glabrous.

In sandy or clayey soil, Ohio to Minnesota, Florida and Texas. Spring and summer.

6. Tradescantia Montana Shuttlw. Mountain Spiderwort

Fig. 1159

Tradescantia montana Shuttlw.; Britt. & Br. 111. Fl. 1: 377. 1896.

Green and glabrous or somewhat pubescent, stems slender, simple or sparingly branched, 1°-2° tall. Leaves lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 4-10' long, 2"-6" wide, mostly distant, their sheaths enlarged; bracts similar to the leaves but shorter; umbels mostly solitary and terminal, sessile in the bracts, rather densely flowered; pedicels and calyx glabrous or pubescent; flowers less than 1' broad; sepals lanceolate, acute, about 3" long.

In woods and thickets, mountains of southwestern Virginia to Kentucky and Georgia. June-Aug.

7. Tradescantia Pilosa Lehm. Zigzag Spider-Wort

Fig. 1160

T. pilosa J. G. C. Lehm. Sem. Hort. Hamb. 16. 1827. Tradescantia flexuosa Raf. Atl. Journ. 150. 1832.

More or less puberulent or short-pilose, stem stout, l°-3° high, commonly flexuous, often branched. Leaves broadly lanceolate, acuminate at the apex, mostly narrowed at the base, 6'-15' long, i'-2' wide, dark green above, paler beneath; bracts usually narrower and shorter than the leaves; umbels 3-8, terminal and axillary or on short axillary branches, densely many-flowered; pedicels and calyx pubescent and more or less glandular, rarely nearly glabrous; corolla lilac-blue, 9"-15" broad.

Southern Pennsylvania to Illinois and Missouri, south to Florida. June-Aug.