USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An illustrated flora of the northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions. 3 vols. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. Vol. 1: 461.
Where Commonly Found: Meadows, fields, and disturbed areas, CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT.
How to Identify:
(For unfamiliar words: Wikipedia Glossary of Botanical Terms).
Go Botany Key to Tradescantia ohiensis.
Missouri Botanical Garden webpage for Tradescantia ohiensis.
Flower Type: Light purple to blue-violet scentless flowers, about 1″ across with 3 rounded petals, 6 bright yellow anthers and fine violet hair near the base, appear in small clusters on hairless stems at plant top in Mid-June to Early September, a long flowering season with few flowers open at a time. Flowers close by early afternoon on sunny days.
Leaf Arrangement: Alternate around mostly unbranched round, glabrous and occasionally glaucous stem.
Leaf Type: Linear grey or blue-green leaves up to 15″ long and 1″ across, wider at the base where they wrap the stem.
Height: 2′ – 3′
Seed Collection: Three-part capsules that split open when mature to drop oblong seeds. Seed has dark grey, brown to black seed cost with intricate wrinkling. Air dry on screen to access seed.
Attracts: Bees, Butterflies,
Use: Garden or Naturalizing
Light: Full Sun to Part Sun
Hardiness Zone: 4 to 9 USDA Zone Map
Soils: Moist to Wet
Notes: Ohio Spiderwort is an excellent multi-stemmed perennial with attractive morning-flowers over a long season. Nice in really any type of garden, but it does have a reputation of spreading, sometimes aggressively/
Native to the NY, MA, CT, RI, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Midwest. Biota of North America Program (BONAP) – North America Plant Atlas (NAPA).
Northeast Wild Seed Collectors 
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