This erect, usually unbranched native perennial grows up to 18 inches tall. Long, narrow, alternate leaves 4-12 inches long and 1/2 inch wide have pointed tips with bases that wrap around the stem (A). Several flowers on short stalks occur in groups (cymes) at the top of the stem (B). Beneath the flowers are two long, narrow green bracts similar to the leaves. Hairy flower stalks and sepals (C) separate this species from Ohio Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis), which has 3 similar rounded, blue to rose-violet petals and 6 bright yellow anthers.
Grows in moist prairies and open woodlands, flowering from May through July. At Neale Woods, it is rare in Nebraska prairie. Most plants at Neale Woods are Ohio Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis). Long-bracted Spiderwort is rare in the Floodplain Prairie planting at Fontenelle Forest.
Spiderwort flowers open in the morning, lasting only one day. Rather than dropping, they turn into a mucilaginous jelly that flows like a tear, a feature responsible for some of its rather picturesque common names like Cow Slobbers and Snotweed. It is also known as Blue Jackets.
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