Ohio Spiderwort

[AlanLichty]

Tradescantia ohiensis goes by the names bluejacket and Ohio Spiderwort. The blooms are small but colorful and appear to be highly attractive to bees as there was quite a bit of activity with various kinds of bees and bumblebees tripping over each other to get at them. Taken a couple of days ago after some overnight rains.

C&C always welcome.

 

[JimFox]

Love the rain on this Alan! And I was expecting to see a spider!

What an interesting name for such a cool looking flower.

 

[AlanLichty]

Love the rain on this Alan! And I was expecting to see a spider!

What an interesting name for such a cool looking flower.

Thanks Jim - I was shooting daylilies that were all around these little flowers and honestly didn't really notice them at first but the bee activity drew my attention to them. The open flower on the left is about an inch across at most and the plant lies quite low to the ground compared to the lilies.

 

[MonikaC]

That's a much lighter color than the spiderworts out here. And quite a bit smaller, sounds like. Raindrops are always a plus.

 

[AlanLichty]

That's a much lighter color than the spiderworts out here. And quite a bit smaller, sounds like. Raindrops are always a plus.

Thanks Monika - apparently it's a rather promiscuous plant and crossbreeds with just about anything so there are a lot of variants out there. Not native to the PNW at all.

 

[MonikaC]

Thanks Monika - apparently it's a rather promiscuous plant and crossbreeds with just about anything so there are a lot of variants out there. Not native to the PNW at all.

From the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: When touched in the heat of the day, the flowers shrivel to a fluid jelly.
You'll have to try this & report!

 

[AlanLichty]

From the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center: When touched in the heat of the day, the flowers shrivel to a fluid jelly.
You'll have to try this & report!

Umm - what constitutes "heat of the day"? Our daytime temps for the past several days have been in the 60's although it's supposed to make it up into the 80's over the weekend. I have been watching the bees roll around on the bloom with no detrimental effect on the display.