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prairie spiderwort, spiderwort

Habit Herbs, erect or ascending, rarely rooting at nodes.
Stems

5–90 cm;

internodes glaucous, glabrous.

Leaves

spirally arranged, sessile;

blade linear-lanceolate, 5–50 × 0.2–3 cm (distal leaf blades equal to or narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), apex acuminate, glaucous, glabrous.

Inflorescences

terminal, often axillary;

bracts foliaceous.

Flowers

distinctly pedicillate;

pedicels 0.8–3 cm, glandular-puberulent, rarely glabrous or glabrescent;

sepals 4–11 mm, glandular-puberulent, usually with apical tuft of eglandular hairs, occasionally with scattered eglandular hairs among glandular, rarely glabrous or glabrescent;

petals distinct, bright blue to rose or magenta, broadly ovate, not clawed, 6–16 mm;

stamens free;

filaments bearded.

Capsules

4–7 mm.

Seeds

2–4 mm.

Tradescantia occidentalis

Distribution
from FNA
AR; AZ; CO; IA; KS; LA; MN; MT; ND; NE; NM; OK; SD; TX; UT; WI; WY; MB
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

All of the chromosome counts cited by E. Anderson (1954) for this species are attributable to Tradescantia occidentalis var. occidentalis.

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Sepals and pedicels ± uniformly glandular-puberulent, rarely nearly glabrous
var. occidentalis
1. Sepals and pedicels completely glabrous
var. scopulorum
Source FNA vol. 22.
Parent taxa Commelinaceae > Tradescantia
Sibling taxa
T. bracteata, T. brevifolia, T. buckleyi, T. crassifolia, T. crassula, T. edwardsiana, T. ernestiana, T. fluminensis, T. gigantea, T. hirsuticaulis, T. hirsutiflora, T. humilis, T. leiandra, T. longipes, T. ohiensis, T. ozarkana, T. pallida, T. paludosa, T. pedicellata, T. pinetorum, T. reverchonii, T. roseolens, T. spathacea, T. subacaulis, T. subaspera, T. tharpii, T. virginiana, T. wrightii, T. zebrina
Subordinate taxa
T. occidentalis var. occidentalis, T. occidentalis var. scopulorum
Synonyms T. virginiana var. occidentalis
Name authority (Britton) Smyth: Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 16: 163. (1899)
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