Tradescantia ernestiana
Tradescantia ohiensis
Ernest's spiderwort
bluejacket, Ohio spiderwort, smooth spiderwort
(1–)1.5–5 mm thick, fleshy.
not flexuous, 5–40 cm;
internodes usually glabrous.
15–115 cm;
internodes glabrous or occasionally pilose, glaucous.
spirally arranged, sessile;
blade dull green, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate-oblong, 9–27 × 1–4 cm (distal leaf blades wider than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), base cuneate to rounded, apex acuminate, not glaucous, glabrous or sparsely puberulent.
spirally arranged, sessile, forming acute angle with stem, arcuate;
blade linear to linear-lanceolate, 5–45 × 0.4–4.5 cm (distal leaf blades equal to or narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), apex acuminate, glaucous, usually glabrous, sometimes pilose near sheath.
terminal;
bracts foliaceous.
terminal and often axillary;
bracts foliaceous.
distinctly pedicillate;
pedicels 2–3.2 cm, minutely pilose;
sepals somewhat inflated, 9–16 mm, uniformly eglandular-pilose;
petals distinct, deep blue, purple, or rose-red, broadly ovate, not clawed, 1.2–1.5 cm;
stamens free;
filaments bearded.
distinctly pedicillate;
pedicels 0.7–3 cm, glabrous;
sepals glaucous, 4–15 mm, glabrous or with apical tuft of eglandular hairs;
petals distinct, deep blue to rose, rarely white, broadly ovate, not clawed, 0.8–2 cm;
stamens free;
filaments bearded.
5–7 mm.
4–6 mm.
2–3 mm.
2–3 mm.
= 12.
= 12, 24.
Tradescantia ernestiana
Tradescantia ohiensis
Tradescantia ernestiana is sympatric with, and easily confused with, T. virginiana in northern Alabama and perhaps northern Georgia [reported from Georgia by C. Sinclair (1967, p. 87), but no specimens are cited and I have seen none]. At present, the two species can be separated only by the relative width of the blade and sheath of the distal leaves. They are obviously closely related and should be studied in the field in the southern Appalachians where their ranges overlap. The Texas record is taken from C. Sinclair (1967).
The hybrid Tradescantia ernestinana × T. ozarkana is known from Arkansas and Missouri.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Tradescantia ohiensis is the most common and widespread species in the United States. It hybridizes with many of the other species.
Tradescantia ohiensis var. foliosa (Small) MacRoberts has been recognized for the forms with pilose leaves and sheaths (D. T. MacRoberts 1977). I have found such plants scattered among populations of glabrous plants, and I do not consider them worthy of formal taxonomic status.
The following hybrids are known: Tradescantia ohiensis × T. gigantea, in Louisiana and Texas; T. ohiensis × T. hirsuticaulis, Arkansas; T. ohiensis × T. occidentalis, Arkansas, Louisiana; T. ohiensis × T. ozarkana, Arkansas; T. ohiensis × T. paludosa, Louisiana (reported by MacRoberts, 1980); T. ohiensis × T. roseolens, Alabama, Florida; T. ohiensis × T. subaspera, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia; and T. ohiensis × T. virginiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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