Prairie Spiderwort (_T. bracteata_) is a smaller plant with bluer flowers. Ranging from Minnesota to Texas, it has its blooming season in Texas in April and May.
[Illustration: TEXAS DAYFLOWER WIDOW’S TEARS]
Curly-Leaved Dayflower. Widow’s Tears (_Commelina crispa_) has two large blue petals and a third, minute, white, and inconspicuous. The upper three stamens are 4-lobed and sterile, quite different from the 3 lower pollen-producing stamens, one of which is larger than the others. The petals are very tender and last only one morning. This dayflower may be distinguished from several others in the state by its crisped leaf-margins. It is very common on the South Central Plains from May to September. The name is given in honor of early Dutch botanists by the name of Commelyn.
Texas Dayflower (_Commelinantia anomala_) has two large petals like the dayflowers, but may be distinguished from them by their lavender color and by having the leaf around the flower-cluster more like the lower leaves in shape. The three upper stamens are bearded with violet hairs like those of spiderworts. It grows in rich moist soil in the limestone hills of the southern part of the state and the adjoining part of Mexico.
Aquatic plants; leaves alternate, often basal; sepals 3, petal-like; petals 3, sepals and petals partly united; ovary 3-celled.
Water Hyacinth (_Eichhornia crassipes_) is also called wampee, river raft, and water orchid. It grows so thick in places that water channels may be blocked, and island-like masses may serve as rafts. With its large spikes of lavender flowers and its broad shining leaves with their curious bulbous floats, it is the queen of our water plants. Many streams, lakes, and canals along the coastal highway offer living pictures which will not soon fade from the memory. The plants float by means of the bulbous enlargement of the leaf stalk. The flowers are somewhat 2-lipped, the 3 sepals and 3 petals somewhat alike but with a yellow spot on the upper petal.
Pickerel Weed (_Pontedaria cordata_) may be found growing in the mud of inland waters along the coast. It is a taller plant than the water hyacinth, the spikes are narrower, the flowers are a deeper purple, and the leaves are narrower and have no float.