Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis)
Also known as: Ohio spiderwort, bluejacket
⚠️ Safety note: Low risk, but eat only the young growth — older stems turn slimy and stringy. Harvest from unsprayed areas. Note that spiderwort hybridizes readily with other Tradescantia species where they grow together; all the common Florida spiderworts are treated the same as food.
Quick Facts
- Edible parts: Flowers, young leaves, and tender young stems.
- Part: greens
- Season: Spring through summer in Florida, during the bloom season.
- Type: herb
- Where in Florida: Panhandle, North, and Central Florida, in open woodlands, fields, roadsides, and disturbed sites.
How to Recognize It
Erect 1 to 2 foot plant with long, strap-like light-green leaves that give it a grassy look when not blooming. The showy three-petaled flowers are usually blue or purple (sometimes pink or white) with six dark stamens tipped in bright yellow, opening in clusters atop branched stems; each flower lasts only one day.
How to Eat It
Eat flowers fresh on salads or candied as a sweet garnish; young leaves and tender stems can be eaten raw in salads or cooked like greens. Older stems and leaves become mucilaginous and stringy, so stick to young growth.
A vigorous self-seeder that spreads readily; harvesting young shoots and flowers has no lasting impact. Cutting back spent plants can even encourage a second flush of growth.
Of Florida's four native Tradescantia species, T. ohiensis is the most common and adaptable — and unlike many Florida natives, it is scarce or absent in South Florida.
🌱 Fun fact: The stamen hairs of spiderwort change from blue to pink when exposed to low levels of radiation, making the plant a living radiation detector used by scientists.
← Browse all edible native plants
🌿 Keep exploring
More Florida natives worth meeting:
🌿 Also see the native-plant profile for this same species: Common spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis) — growing notes, habitat, and landscape use.
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