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| ## virginia spiderwort {#virginia-spiderwort .Title-Header}           |
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| *Tradescantia virginiana* L.                                          |
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| Plant Symbol = TRVI                                                   |
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Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center

### ![](media/image2.jpeg){width="2.6993055555555556in" height="1.7902777777777779in"}

**Alternate Names**

Common spiderwort, dayflower, flower-of-a-day, Job's tears, snake-grass,
spider-lily, trinity, trinity-lily, widow's-tears

### Uses

*Ethnobotanic*: The Cherokee and other Native American tribes used
Virginia spiderwort for various food and medicinal purposes. The young
leaves were eaten as salad greens or were mixed with other greens and
then either fried or boiled until tender. The plant was mashed and
rubbed onto insect bites to relieve pain and itching. A paste, made from
the mashed roots, was used as a poultice to treat cancer. A tea made
from the plant was used as a laxative and to treat stomachaches
associated with overeating. Virginia spiderwort was one of the seven
ingredients in a tea used to treat "female ailments or rupture." It was
also combined with several other ingredients in a medicine for kidney
trouble.

### Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status (e.g. threatened or endangered
species, state noxious status, and wetland indicator values).

### Description

*General*: Spiderwort Family (Commelinaceae). Virginia spiderwort is a
native, perennial forb. This plant was probably named for the delicate
spider web-like filaments that surround the anthers of the flower or the
threadlike secretion that emerges from the stem upon cutting. The
lightly fragrant flowers (2 to 5.4 cm in diameter) grow in terminal
clusters. The flower's three broadly ovate petals are generally bright
blue but are sometimes purple, violet, rose, and rarely white.
Individual blossoms last for only one or two days, but new blossoms
appear daily throughout the spring blooming period. The plants grow in
erect clumps that range from 30 to 60 cm in height. The rounded stalks
are either single or branched at the base. The roots are thick and
fleshy. The plant spreads through underground stems or stolons to form
large colonies. The smooth iris-like leaves are long (15 to 46 cm) and
narrow (2.5 cm wide) with a prominent midrib.

*Distribution*: For current distribution, please consult the Plant
Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

*Habitat*: Virginia spiderwort can be found in moist prairies, fertile
woodlands, open woods, meadows, hillsides, stony bluffs, stream banks,
and along roadsides.

### Establishment

Virginia spiderwort is a vigorous plant that likes moist soils but will
adapt to drier, average garden soils. The plants are often seen in
old-fashioned gardens and work well as part of a perennial border. They
are recommended for bogs and naturally wet sites where the plants can
form large clumps when grown in full sun. The plants will flower in both
sun and shade. Plants may be propagated from seed but they are more
easily started from cuttings or divisions. For cuttings, take a
single-node stem cutting late in the season, just as the plants begin to
bolt. Place the cutting in moist soil up to the base of the leaf. To
propagate by division, divide the thick roots in the fall or early in
the spring. Be careful to divide the leaves so that each section
includes its own roots. Established plants will self-sow and stalks that
lay on the ground will readily root from the nodes.

### Management

The foliage may be partially clipped back after blooming to control the
size and untidy appearance of the plant. The plants will flower a second
time in the late summer or fall if the stems are removed soon after the
first flowering period. This vigorous grower can be somewhat controlled
by dividing the plants every two to four years and by regularly removing
the stalks that slump to the ground before they have the opportunity to
take root. Large clumps may be divided by first lifting the root mass
from the soil with a shovel. Then divide the clump into pieces that
contain four to six shoots each with roots attached. Immediately plant
and water the divisions.

### Pests and Potential Problems

Virginia spiderwort is relatively pest and disease free. Snails will eat
the young shoots.

### Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

These plant materials are somewhat available from commercial sources.
Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil
Conservation Service) office for more information. Look in the phone
book under "United States Government." The Natural Resources
Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading "Department of
Agriculture."

### References

Bailey, L.H. & E.Z. Bailey 1976. *Hortus Third: A concise dictionary of
plants cultivated in the United States and Canada*. Simon and Schuster
Macmillan Co., New York, New York. 1290 pp.

Banks, W.H. 1953. *Ethnobotany of the Cherokee Indians*. Master of
Science Thesis, University of Tennessee, Tennessee. 216 pp.

Chapman, A.W. 1883. *Flora of the Southern United States: Flowering
Plants and Ferns*. Second Edition. J. Wilson and Son, Cambridge,
Massachusetts. 698 pp.

Coffey, T. 1993. *The history & folklore of North American wildflowers.*
Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA. 356 pp.

Cullina, W. 2000. *The New England Wild Flower Society guide to growing
and propagating wildflowers in the United States and Canada*. Houghton
Mifflin Company, New York, New York. 322 pp.

Hamel, P.B. & M.U. Chiltoskey 1975. *Cherokee plants and their uses: A
400-year history*. Herald Publishing Company, Sylva, North Carolina. 65
pp.

Missouri Botanical Garden 2000. *Tradenscantia virginiana. Kemper Center
for Home Gardening*.

<http://www.mobot.org/hort/plantfinder/Code/M/M63.htm>. (18 June 2001).

Moerman, D.E. 1998. *Native American ethnobotany*. Timber Press,
Portland, Oregon. 927 pp.

Moerman, D.E. 1999. *Native American Ethnobotany Database: Foods, drugs,
dyes and fibers of native North American Peoples. The University of
Michigan-Dearborn.*

<http://www.umd.umich.edu/cgi-bin/herb>

(18 June 2001)

Phillips, H.R. 1985. *Growing and propagating wild flowers.* University
of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 331 pp.

Small, J.K. 1933. *Manual of Southeastern flora*. University of North
Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 1554 pp.

Smith, A.I. 1979. *A guide to wildflowers of the Mid-south*. Memphis
State University Press, Memphis, Tennessee. 281 pp

Taylor, K.S. and S.F. Hamblin 1963. *Handbook of wild flower
cultivation*. The Macmillan Company, New York, New York. 307 pp.

Tenenbaum, F. 1973. Gardening with wild flowers. Charles Scribner's
Sons, New York, New York. 206 pp.

### Prepared By

## *Diana L. Immel*

Formerly USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, c/o Environmental
Horticulture Department, University of California, Davis, California

### Species Coordinator

## *M. Kat Anderson*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center, c/o Plant Sciences Department,
University of California, Davis, California

Edited: 27sep01 jsp; 060818 jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

*The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in
all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national
origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual
orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases
apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require
alternative means for communication of program information (Braille,
large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA\'s [TARGET
Center](http://www.usda.gov/oo/target.htm) at 202-720-2600 (voice and
TDD).*

*To file a complaint of discrimination write USDA, Director, Office of
Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence
Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964 (voice or
TDD). USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.*

*Read about [Civil Rights at the Natural Resources Convervation
Service](http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/about/civilrights/).*