Plants of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

Bracted Spiderwort is an erect, native, perennial forb growing 8 to 24 inches high on slender round smooth stems, rarely branching, except that in Minnesota branched specimens are sometimes found. Stems contain a sticky juice.

The leaves are flat, smooth and with a sheath surrounding the stem. Leaves alternate in a spiral fashion on the stem. Larger leaves are usually less that 1 inch wide but linear, flat, and 8 to 10x as long as wide. Edges and surfaces are smooth and the long leaf bends downward beyond the middle. Sometimes there can be fine cottony hair on the leaf edges just above the sheath. Leaf nodes are swollen at the sheath and the underside of the leaf more prominently shows the veining.

The inflorescence is a terminal cluster of short-stalked flowers (a cyme), sometimes more than 20 flowers, with 2 long leaf-like bracts, spreading horizontally, immediately below the cluster, of which all parts are hairy.

The flowers are 3-parted, each about 1 inch wide with ovate petals that have rounded but wavy margined tips and that vary from rose to blue, but rosy purple is the usual in this species. The 3 sepals are much smaller than the petals, more linear, placed between the petals and are green initially but dotted with rosy tones when the flower opens. The sepals and the flower stalks are covered with fine hair, of which some may be glandular. The six stamens have rosy filaments, yellow anthers and multicellular hairs at their base. (Filaments and hair match the color of the petals.) There is a single style with a knob-like stigma. The pistil is of 3 united carpels. Usually only two flowers of the cluster open at one time and these close by noon on sunny days.

Seed: Fertile flowers produce a round papery 3-part (3-valved) seed capsule, each valve containing 2 seeds. The seeds are elliptic in shape, flattened on one side, 2 to 3 mm long, with a rough indented surface. Seeds require 120 days of cold stratification and cool soil for germination. Best to plant in the fall and let nature do the work.

Habitat: Bracted Spiderwort grows best in full sun, in sandy to loamy soils, moderate moisture to dry conditions - typical of prairies. It grows from a fleshy rhizomatous root system which can produce offsets.

Names: The genus name, Tradescantia, is an honorary for John Tradescant (1608-1662), English gardener to the King; the species bracteata, is Latin for "bracted" referring to the plants leafy-bracts. The author name for the plant classification, from 1898, ‘Small’ is for John Kunkel Small (1869-1938), American Botanist, first curator of the New York Botanical Garden, best known for Flora of the Southeastern United States.

Comparisons: A close match to T. bracteata is the Bluejacket, T. ohiensis. That plant is taller by half, branches, usually has blue flowers and the calyx and flower stalks are not hairy. It prefers more moist soils. HOWEVER, if grown close by, the two species will hybridize. The other species found in Minnesota, Western Spiderwort, T. occidentalis, with petals bright blue to rose or magenta, has branched stems but also with hairless stem nodes and leaves. Sepal hairs are mostly glandular but not dense hair like T. bracteata. Comparison photos below.