Tradescantia ozarkana E.S. Anderson & Woodson

Ozark Spiderwort

© DETenaglia

Family - Commelinaceae

Stems - To +50cm tall, simple, from thickened roots, herbaceous, glabrous to hirsute, glaucous, somewhat succulent.

Leaves - Alternate, sheathing at base, to -30cm long, +/-4cm broad, glaucous above and below (less so above), glabrous, ciliate margined, narrowly lanceolate.

© DETenaglia

Inflorescence - Terminal, bracteate, umbellate cymes of +/-15 flowers. Pedicels +/-3cm long, glandular pilose, strongly recurving in fruit.

Flowers - Petals 3, white to pink or lilac, glabrous, broadly ovate, +/-2cm long and broad, distinct. Stamens 6. Filaments 3mm long, white, with dense multicellular hairs attached mostly in lower half, (hairs longer than filament). Anthers yellow, 2mm broad, 1mm long. Style 1, glabrous, 2-3mm long. Ovary superior, 3-locular, (one ovule per locule), with erect gland-tipped hairs on summit. Sepals 3, ovate, acute, glandular pilose externally, glabrous internally, +/-8mm long, 4mm broad, free, accrescent.

	Calyx.
© DETenaglia

	Flower.
© DETenaglia

Fruits - Capsules 4-8 mm long, ovoid, 3-locular. Seeds 3-6 per capsule, 2-3 mm long, oblong to ovoid and somewhat flattened with a depression on 1 side, the surfaces undulate to bluntly several-ribbed.

Flowering - April - May.

Habitat - Slopes, woods, bluff ledges.

Origin - Native to the U.S.

Other info. - This is a nice plant because it's not the usual T. ohiensis, which, while striking, is very common.
T. ozarkana can have variably colored flowers. I also photographed this pinkish-lilac colored flower:

© DETenaglia

Photographs taken in the Hercules Glade Wilderness, Mark Twain National Forest, Taney County, MO., 4-28-00.