The flowers are rarely white and usually violet-blue. The flowers have three petals with yellow stamens and open up a few at a time for one day. The genus name honors John Tradescant the Older (1570-1638) and his son John Tradescant the Younger (1608-1662), botanists and successive gardeners to Charles I of England. When the stems of spiderworts are cut, a viscous stem secretion is released which becomes threadlike and silky upon hardening (like a spider's web), hence the common name.
The delicate flowers are spectacular.
What's in a name? I have hated the name spiderwort because I didn't realize that it was 'wort' and not 'wart'. Wort comes from the Old English 'wyrt' of Germanic origin, related to root. It is used in names of plants and herbs used medicinally. Wart comes from Old English 'wearte' also of Germanic origin. A wart is a growth on the skin caused by a virus or a rounded excrescence on the surface of a plant. Informally wart is used to describe an undesirable feature or an obnoxious person.
All this time when I saw 'wort' I have been hearing the meaning of 'wart'. My new understanding of the words has transformed my ability to love the name spiderwort.
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