Tradescantia fluminensis |
Tradescantia reverchonii |
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small-leaf spiderwort, white-flower wandering jew |
Reverchon's spiderwort |
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Habit | Herbs, decumbent, rooting at nodes. | Herbs, erect or ascending, rarely rooting at nodes. |
Roots | thick, fleshy, densely brownish-tomentose. |
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Stems | erect or ascending, unbranched or sparsely branched, 30–105 cm; internodes arachnoid-pubescent. |
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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 linear-lanceolate, 10–35 × 0.7–2.8 cm (distal leaf blades equal to or narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), apex acuminate, arachnoid-pubescent, especially on sheaths. |
Inflorescences | terminal, becoming leaf-opposed, sometimes axillary from distalmost leaf axil, 1–2 cyme pairs per stem; bracts mostly foliaceous, occasionally reduced. |
terminal, 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 1–2.3 cm, pilose or villous with eglandular or mixed eglandular, glandular hairs; sepals 5–14 mm, pubescent with mixture of glandular, eglandular hairs; petals distinct, bright blue-violet, rarely rose or white, broadly ovate, not clawed, 15–18 mm; stamens free; filaments bearded. |
Capsules | 6–8 mm. |
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Seeds | 3–4 mm; hilum as long as seed. |
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2n | = 12, 24. |
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Tradescantia fluminensis |
Tradescantia reverchonii |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | Flowering spring–summer (Mar–Jul). |
Habitat | Woods, roadsides, and open areas, sometimes as weed | Sandhills with oaks, pine woods, rocky open woods, rarely seepage areas, and roadsides |
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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AR; LA; TX |
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.) |
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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) | Bush |
Web links |