Tradescantia ernestiana
Tradescantia bracteata
Ernest's spiderwort
bract spiderwort, long-bract spiderwort
(1–)1.5–5 mm thick, fleshy.
not brownish-tomentose.
not flexuous, 5–40 cm;
internodes usually glabrous.
sparsely branched, 5–45 cm, glabrous, or puberulent distally.
spirally arranged, sessile;
blade dull green, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate-oblong, 9–27 × 1–4 cm (distal leaf blades wider than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), base cuneate to rounded, apex acuminate, not glaucous, glabrous or sparsely puberulent.
stiff;
blade bright green, linear-lanceolate, 15–29 × 0.9–2 cm (distal leaf blades equal to or narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), apex long acuminate, glabrous.
terminal;
bracts foliaceous.
terminal, solitary, sometimes also lateral and pedunculate from distal nodes;
bracts foliaceous, glabrous, or rarely sheath puberulent.
distinctly pedicillate;
pedicels 2–3.2 cm, minutely pilose;
sepals somewhat inflated, 9–16 mm, uniformly eglandular-pilose;
petals distinct, deep blue, purple, or rose-red, broadly ovate, not clawed, 1.2–1.5 cm;
stamens free;
filaments bearded.
distinctly pedicillate;
pedicels 1.8–3.3 cm, pubescent with mixture of glandular, eglandular hairs;
sepals, 10–13 mm, densely pubescent with mixture of glandular, eglandular hairs, glandular hairs numerous, conspicuous, longer hairs 1.5–6 mm;
petals distinct, usually bright rose, less commonly blue, ovate, not clawed, 18–19 mm;
stamens free;
filaments bearded.
5–7 mm.
5–6 mm.
2–3 mm.
2–3 mm;
hilum as long as seed.
= 12.
= 12, 24.
Tradescantia ernestiana
Tradescantia bracteata
Tradescantia ernestiana is sympatric with, and easily confused with, T. virginiana in northern Alabama and perhaps northern Georgia [reported from Georgia by C. Sinclair (1967, p. 87), but no specimens are cited and I have seen none]. At present, the two species can be separated only by the relative width of the blade and sheath of the distal leaves. They are obviously closely related and should be studied in the field in the southern Appalachians where their ranges overlap. The Texas record is taken from C. Sinclair (1967).
The hybrid Tradescantia ernestinana × T. ozarkana is known from Arkansas and Missouri.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
The record of this species from Indiana (E. Anderson and R. E. Woodson Jr. 1935) was based on a depauperate specimen of Tradescantia virginiana (E. Anderson 1954); the internodes on an unnumbered specimen collected by Mason, however, deposited at the Field Museum in Chicago, are puberulent with glandular and eglandular hairs. I have seen this character in an occasional specimen of T. bracteata but never in T. virginiana.
Tradescantia bracteata was distinguished from T. occidentalis partly by the former's unbranched stems versus the freely branched in T. occidentalis (M. Bolick 1981). By using this feature, branching specimens from Minnesota would be identified as T. occidentalis, although their sepal pubescence and lax, green, pubescent-margined bracts and leaves clearly place them in T. bracteata.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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