This native perennial has smooth, erect stems to 3 feet tall. The alternate, grasslike leaves up to 15 inches long and less than 1 inch wide sheathe the stem. At the top of the stem a cluster (cyme) of individually stalked flowers rises above 2 unequal bracts (A,B) similar to the leaves. The smooth, hairless sepals and flower stems (D) separate this species from closely related Bracted Spiderwort (Tradescantia bracteata) which also has 3 blue to rose-purple petals accented by 6 stamens with bright yellow anthers.
Found in moist or dry prairies, roadsides and open woods, flowering from May through July. At Neale Woods, it is uncommon in Nebraska and rare in Knull Prairie. Tradescantia ohiensis is the most common species of spiderwort at NW.
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 Job’s Tears, Widow’s Tears and Cow Slobbers. It is also known as Common Spiderwort and Blue Jackets. The genus Tradescantia was named for John Tradescant, gardener to Charles I, a 17th Century English King. Tradescant’s son brought a species of spiderwort to England from America.
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