6. Tradescantia subaspera Ker Gawler var. subaspera (wide-leaved spiderwort)

Pl. 27 a; Map 112

Stems 30B90 cm long, usually strongly zigzag in the upper half, hairy or glabrous. Blades of the leaves and bracts 4B25 cm long, linear-lanceolate to narrowly elliptic-lanceolate, tapering abruptly above the base and conspicuously broader than the sheaths, glabrous or sparsely hairy, particularly along the margins near the base, deep green. Flower stalks 10B17 mm long, pubescent with gland-tipped, nonglandular, or mixed hairs, or less commonly nearly glabrous. Sepals 4B10 mm long, green, sometimes tinged with purple, herbaceous, pubescent with gland-tipped, nonglandular, or mixed hairs, or less commonly glabrous. Petals 10B15 mm long, light blue to deep blue (rarely white elsewhere). 2n=12, 24 (2n=24 in Missouri). JuneBSeptember.

Scattered in eastern and central Missouri (eastern U.S. west to Missouri). Mesic upland and bottomland forests, often in ravines, shaded stream banks, shaded bluffs, frequently on calcareous substrates.

The var. montana (Shuttlew.) E.S. Anderson & Woodson grows from the Appalachian Mountains south to Florida and is distinguished from var. subaspera by its relatively straight stems and in having the uppermost lateral inflorescences stalked rather than sessile. In Missouri, the hybrid T. subaspera - T. ohiensis has been found uncommonly where the two species occur together.