Tradescantia occidentalis – Prairie Spiderwort
Plant Name
Scientific Name: Tradescantia occidentalis
Common Names: Prairie Spiderwort, Western Spiderwort
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert, Upland, Mountain, Riparian
Flower Color: Blue to violet, Pink to magenta
Flowering Season: Spring, Summer, Fall
Height: To 3 feet (91 cm) tall
Description: The flowers are up to 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide and have 3 broad, triangular petals with pointed tips, hairy stamen filaments, 4 to 10 mm long sepals, and 0.8 to 3 cm long pedicels (stems that attach the flower to the main flower stalk). The leaves clasp the stems and are long, green, linear, folded, and grass-like.
The similar Pinewoods Spiderwort (Tradescantia pinetorum) is a more sparse, slender plant that only grows in upland and mountain areas and has flowers with typically shorter, narrower sepals and shorter pedicels. The also similar Birdbill Dayflower (Commelina dianthifolia) has hairless stamen filaments.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
Subclass: Commelinidae
Order: Commelinales
Family: Commelinaceae – Spiderwort family
Genus: Tradescantia L. – spiderwort
Species: Tradescantia occidentalis (Britton) Smyth – prairie spiderwort
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