Tradescantia ernestiana
Tradescantia leiandra
Ernest's spiderwort
canyon spiderwort
(1–)1.5–5 mm thick, fleshy.
clustered, fibrous-thickened.
not flexuous, 5–40 cm;
internodes usually glabrous.
sparsely branched, 30–50 cm, tufted, glabrous.
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.
spirally arranged, distant;
blade not variegated, narrowly lanceolate, 7.5–16 × 1–2.5 cm (distal leaf blades wider or narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), base symmetric, rounded to broadly cuneate, margins smooth or ciliate-scabrous, apex acuminate, glabrous to sparsely pubescent.
terminal;
bracts foliaceous.
terminal;
bracts very unlike proximal stem leaves, connate, ovate-lanceolate, 2.4–4.5 cm, base cordate, somewhat dilated.
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.
subsessile;
pedicels densely covered with white, long, eglandular hairs or occasionally only with colorless, short, glandular hairs;
sepals distinct, usually glandular-pubescent as well as villous;
petals purplish red, clawed, claws connate basally forming tube;
stamens epipetalous;
filaments glabrous.
5–7 mm.
3.5 mm, glabrous.
2–3 mm.
1.5 mm.
= 12.
Tradescantia ernestiana
Tradescantia leiandra
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 plants from the Capote Falls region of Presidio County, Texas have pedicels with short, colorless, glandular hairs instead of long, white, eglandular hairs and were separated as Tradescantia leiandra var. glandulosa Correll (D. S. Correll 1968).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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