Also known as Ohio Spiderwort. The name cow slobber refers to the slimy, snot-like sap that comes from the stem. I learned about this sap first hand when in high school I gathered a bunch from the roadside for a bouquet. I don't think the flowers made it home that day.
Captured at Rocky Point Glade, KC MO.
May 12, 2021
There are several species of Tradescantia in Kansas. The Ohio Spiderwort has tufts of hairs on the ends of the sepals.
Earlier this year I purchased the new edition of "Kansas Wildflowers and Weeds". Looking through the glossy pages, I decided to try to find all the plants in this book.
Many species I am familiar with. Some I know about, but have never seen in the wild. A few are completely new to me. Just like in Pokemon, I want to catch them all!
So I am embarking on this task. It will be a multi-year project for certain. This will encourage me to look more closely at the ecosystems and habitat with which I am familiar. This will lead me to explore new places, especially in Western Kansas.
Rules:
1. To "catch" a species I need to take a photograph of it and positively identify it.
2. I am treating each species as new to me - so even the Missouri Evening Primrose and Annual Sunflower (the plants of my Master's Thesis and Ph.D. Dissertation) I need to find again for them to count.
3. I must "catch" the species in the wild. Garden specimens do not count.
4. I will make a post for each plant that I "catch" showing the photo and a little information. The goal is to make one post per day, one plant per post, though this may change.
5. I am starting this project in 2021, so past photos do not count as a "catch"
Updated: May 29, 2021
Found in a woodland near Hudson Lake, OK.
Captured May 16, 2021
I first saw this delicate milkweed in the woods of Ruth and Paul Henning Conservation Area in Branson, Missouri. I was enchanted with the nodding pale-pink flowers and the loose inflorescence. The flowers in other milkweeds I am familiar with are much more closely packed together. I was delighted to find several individuals of this plant on my family's new lake property.
