Tradescantia fluminensis |
Tradescantia tharpii |
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small-leaf spiderwort, white-flower wandering jew |
Tharp's spiderwort |
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Habit | Herbs, decumbent, rooting at nodes. | Herbs, erect or ascending, rarely rooting at nodes. |
Stems | absent or 2–7 cm in flower, to 20 cm in fruit, shaggy pilose to villous. |
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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. |
blade green, linear-lanceolate, 4–30 × 0.9–2.5 cm (distal leaf blades equal to or narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), margins frequently clear or edged with rose, laxly and irregularly pilose or villous. |
Inflorescences | terminal, becoming leaf-opposed, sometimes axillary from distalmost leaf axil, 1–2 cyme pairs per stem; bracts mostly foliaceous, occasionally reduced. |
terminal, solitary; bracts foliaceous, well developed, not saccate, sparsely to densely pilose. |
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 4–6 cm, laxly pilose; sepals usually purple or rose-colored (rarely pale green), not inflated, 1.2–1.6 cm, uniformly eglandular-pilose; petals distinct, deep rose or purple, or frequently blue, broadly ovate, not clawed, 1.8–2.2 cm; stamens free; filaments bearded. |
Capsules | 5–7 mm. |
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Seeds | 2–3 mm. |
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2n | = 24. |
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Tradescantia fluminensis |
Tradescantia tharpii |
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Phenology | Flowering spring–fall. | Flowering spring. |
Habitat | Woods, roadsides, and open areas, sometimes as weed | Clay soils of rocky prairies and open woodlands |
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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KS; 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.) |
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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) | E. S. Anderson & Woodson: Contr. Arnold Arbor. 9: 70; plate 4, fig. 9; plate 9; map 7. (1935) |
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