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For Your Garden - May 2009
Warmer temperatures, increasing amounts of daylight and beautiful flowers are just some of the reasons that people enjoy spring. Native wildflowers make wonderful additions to your garden as well as providing food and shelter for wildlife. They bloom for a long period of time and are resistant to disease and drought.
spiderwort (Tradescantia spp.)
Several species of spiderwort grow in the woods and prairies of Illinois. They bloom from April through August. The blue-violet flowers each have their own stalk, but they are arranged in clusters at the tip of the stem. Each flower has three petals. A flower only lasts for a single day, but the plant is prolific in producing flowers. The long, narrow leaves are arranged alternately on the stem. A single plant may reach a maximum of about three feet in height.
Classification and taxonomy are based on Mohlenbrock, Robert H. 2014. Vascular flora of Illinois: A field guide. Fourth edition. Southern Illinois University Press, Carbondale. 536 pp.
Illinois Range
Native Plant Information
For more information about Illinois native plants, visit our Native Habitat Descriptions, Requirements, and Plant Lists page. The following publications are available from the IDNR on our publications page.
Taxonomy
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Commelinales
Family: Commelinaceae
Illinois Status: common, native
