Tradescantia fluminensis |
Tradescantia ohiensis |
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small-leaf spiderwort, white-flower wandering jew |
bluejacket, Ohio spiderwort, smooth spiderwort |
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Habit | Herbs, decumbent, rooting at nodes. | Herbs, erect or ascending, rarely rooting at nodes. |
Stems | 15–115 cm; internodes glabrous or occasionally pilose, glaucous. |
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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, forming acute angle with stem, arcuate; blade linear to linear-lanceolate, 5–45 × 0.4–4.5 cm (distal leaf blades equal to or narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), apex acuminate, glaucous, usually glabrous, sometimes pilose near sheath. |
Inflorescences | terminal, becoming leaf-opposed, sometimes axillary from distalmost leaf axil, 1–2 cyme pairs per stem; bracts mostly foliaceous, occasionally reduced. |
terminal and often axillary; 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 0.7–3 cm, glabrous; sepals glaucous, 4–15 mm, glabrous or with apical tuft of eglandular hairs; petals distinct, deep blue to rose, rarely white, broadly ovate, not clawed, 0.8–2 cm; stamens free; filaments bearded. |
Capsules | 4–6 mm. |
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Seeds | 2–3 mm. |
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2n | = 12, 24. |
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Tradescantia fluminensis |
Tradescantia ohiensis |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | Flowering late winter–fall (Feb (Fla)–Sep). |
Habitat | Woods, roadsides, and open areas, sometimes as weed | Roadsides, railroad rights-of-way, fields, thickets, less commonly in woods, occasionally along streams |
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; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; WI; WV; ON
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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 ohiensis is the most common and widespread species in the United States. It hybridizes with many of the other species. Tradescantia ohiensis var. foliosa (Small) MacRoberts has been recognized for the forms with pilose leaves and sheaths (D. T. MacRoberts 1977). I have found such plants scattered among populations of glabrous plants, and I do not consider them worthy of formal taxonomic status. The following hybrids are known: Tradescantia ohiensis × T. gigantea, in Louisiana and Texas; T. ohiensis × T. hirsuticaulis, Arkansas; T. ohiensis × T. occidentalis, Arkansas, Louisiana; T. ohiensis × T. ozarkana, Arkansas; T. ohiensis × T. paludosa, Louisiana (reported by MacRoberts, 1980); T. ohiensis × T. roseolens, Alabama, Florida; T. ohiensis × T. subaspera, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia; and T. ohiensis × T. virginiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 22. | FNA vol. 22, p. 178. |
Parent taxa | Commelinaceae > Tradescantia | Commelinaceae > Tradescantia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | T. canaliculata, T. foliosa, T. incarnata, T. reflexa | |
Name authority | Vellozo: Florae Fluminensis 140; plate vol. 3, 152. (1829) | Rafinesque: Précis Découv. Somiol. 45. (1814) |
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