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Home  /  Plants  /  Budburst Species  /  Tradescantia ohiensis
Phenology Observation Sheet for Wildflowers and Herbs

COMMON NAME

bluejacket

SCIENTIFIC NAME

Tradescantia ohiensis

ALSO KNOWN AS

Ohio spiderwort

Plant family

Spiderwort (Commelinaceae)

Plant group

Wildflowers and Herbs

Bluejacket is a perennial herbaceous plant that grows up to 3 feet tall and is native to eastern North America.
238 reports
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OBSERVERS
238+
OBSERVATIONS
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Identification hints

Bluejacket leaves are long and grass-like. Flowers are in clusters subtended by two long leaf-like bracts. Individual flowers are short-lived and generally blue to purple with 3 petals and yellow anthers. Look for them in prairies, meadows, and roadsides.
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Did you know?

Bluejacket, like other Tradescantia species, can readily hybridize when they are grown in proximity, so it can be difficult to correctly identify these species! This species is the one of the genus with the widest distribution throughout eastern North America.
DISTRIBUTION IN TH U.S.
Alabama , Arkansas , Connecticut , Delaware , Florida , Georgia , Iowa , Illinois , Indiana , Kansas , Kentucky , Louisiana , Massachusetts , Maryland , Maine , Michigan , Minnesota , Missouri , Mississippi , North Carolina , Nebraska , New Hampshire , New Jersey , New York , Ohio , Oklahoma , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , South Carolina , Tennessee , Texas , Virginia , Wisconsin , West Virginia
HABITAT
Bluejacket grows in many soil types and prefers partial shade. Typically found in moist meadow, prairies, thickets, and occasionally at woodland margins and along streams. This species has the widest distribution of any Tradescantia in North America.
ATTRIBUTES
Leaves
Leaves are long, green, and slender, resembling grass. Up to 15 inches long, the leaves have parallel veins, are flat aside from the grooved midvein, and usually less than 3/4 inch wide, although they are slightly wider at the base. All leaves are obviously clasping the stem, and therefore have no petiole (stalk). Leaves have smooth edges and are generally smooth and waxy.
Flowers
Bluejacket flowers are just over an inch in diameter and have 3 petals and 6 hairy yellow-tipped stamens. Flowers are usually blue to purple and rarely also pink or nearly white. Flowers are in terminal clusters of up to 20 at the top of every stem. Below each cluster of flowers are two long, slender, leaf-like bracts. Flowers tend to open in the morning and break down if touched in the heat of the afternoon sun.
Fruits
A dry oval capsule, about 4-6 mm long, holding seeds that are 2-3 mm long.
Bloom Time
Bluejacket blooms between March and August depending on location.

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