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Tradescantia occidentalis
Also called Western Spiderwort, Spiderwort, Western Spiderwort / Prairie Spiderwort
Prairie spiderwort is a hardy North American perennial with grass-like leaves and blue to purple three-petaled flowers that open in the morning. It is grown in full sun and well-drained soil, and it tolerates drought once established.
Tradescantia occidentalis, the prairie spiderwort or western spiderwort, is a plant in the dayflower family, Commelinaceae. It is common and widespread across the western Great Plains of the United States, as well as in Arizona, New Mexico, southern Utah, and Sonora, but is listed as a threatened species in Canada.
Like in a few other species of Tradescantia, the cells of the stamen hairs of Western spiderwort are normally colored blue, but when exposed to neutron radiation or other forms of ionizing radiation, the cells mutate and change color to pink. Thus the plant can be used as a bioassay for radiation.
Longbract spiderwort · Small-leaf spiderwort · Texas spiderwort · Bluejacket · Purple queen · Wooly Spiderwort · Boatlily · Zigzag spiderwort · Virginia spiderwort · Inchplant · Spiderwort
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Tradescantia occidentalis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
