Tradescantia fluminensis |
Tradescantia ernestiana |
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small-leaf spiderwort, white-flower wandering jew |
Ernest's spiderwort |
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Habit | Herbs, decumbent, rooting at nodes. | Herbs, erect or ascending, rarely rooting at nodes. |
Roots | (1–)1.5–5 mm thick, fleshy. |
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Stems | not flexuous, 5–40 cm; internodes usually glabrous. |
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Leaves | 2-ranked; blade lanceolate-elliptic to ovate-lanceolate, 2.5–5 × 1–2 cm (distal leaf blades wider or narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), margins ciliolate, apex acute, 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. |
Inflorescences | terminal, becoming leaf-opposed, sometimes axillary from distalmost leaf axil, 1–2 cyme pairs per stem; bracts mostly foliaceous, occasionally reduced. |
terminal; bracts foliaceous. |
Flowers | distinctly pedicillate; pedicels 1–1.5 cm, glandular-pilose; sepals 5–7 mm, midrib pilose with eglandular hairs; petals distinct, white, not clawed, 8–9 mm; stamens free; filaments white, densely bearded with white hairs. |
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. |
Capsules | 5–7 mm. |
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Seeds | 2–3 mm. |
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2n | = 12. |
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Tradescantia fluminensis |
Tradescantia ernestiana |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | Flowering spring (Mar–May). |
Habitat | Woods, roadsides, and open areas, sometimes as weed | Wooded hillsides, ledges and bluffs, occasionally along streams or in pastures |
Distribution |
AL; CA; FL; LA; native; South America (Brazil–Argentina); Africa (South Africa); Australia [Introduced in North America; introduced in North America]
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AL; AR; GA; MO; OK; TX
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Discussion | This species was recorded north to North Carolina (J. K. Small 1933), but I have not seen any supporting records from Georgia or North Carolina. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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.) |
Source | FNA vol. 22. | FNA vol. 22. |
Parent taxa | Commelinaceae > Tradescantia | Commelinaceae > Tradescantia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | Vellozo: Florae Fluminensis 140; plate vol. 3, 152. (1829) | E. S. Anderson & Woodson: Contr. Arnold Arbor. 9: 58, plate 8, map 4. (1935) |
Web links |