Spiderwort

Tradescantia ohiensis is a species of Tradescantia (spiderwort) native to much of the eastern United States.  It is the most common species of Tradescantia in the wild in the United States.

The flowers are white, pink or purple but most commonly bright blue, with three petals and six yellow anthers.  The sap is mucilaginous and clear.  The leaves are long, thin and bladelike to lanceolate, from 3–45 cm long.

Its native range extends north to Wisconsin, Michigan, and slightly into Ontario, west to Texas and Kansas, south to Florida, and northeast to Massachusetts. 

They are weakly upright to scrambling plants, growing to 30–60 cm tall, and are commonly found individually or in clumps in wooded areas and fields. 

A number of the species flower in the morning and when the sun shines on the flowers in the afternoon they close up, but the flowers can remain open on cloudy days until evening.

The three species of Wandering Jew, one native to eastern Mexico, also belong to the Tradescantia genus.                             Other names used for various species include Spider-lily, Cradle-lily, Oyster-plant and Flowering Inch Plant.

The cells of the stamen hairs of some Tradescantia are colored blue, but when exposed to sources of ionizing radiation such as gamma rays, the cells mutate and change color to pink; they are one of the few tissues known to serve as an effective bioassay for ambient radiation levels.

The generic name honours the English naturalists John Tradescant the Elder (ca. 1570-1638) and John Tradescant the Younger (1608-1662).
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