Tradescantia hirsutiflora |
Tradescantia virginiana |
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hairyflower spiderwort |
Virginia spiderwort, éphémère de virginie |
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Habit | Herbs, erect or ascending, rarely rooting at nodes. | Herbs, erect or ascending, rarely rooting at nodes. |
Roots | 1–1.5(–2) mm thick, scarcely fleshy. |
(1.5–)2–4 mm thick, fleshy. |
Stems | unbranched or sparsely branched, 5–50 cm; internodes densely spreading, pilose or hirsute to glabrous. |
5–35 cm; internodes glabrous or occasionally distal internodes sparsely puberulent. |
Leaves | spirally arranged, sessile; blade linear-lanceolate, 10–32 × 0.6–2 cm (distal leaf blades equal to or narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), apex acuminate, usually pilose, occasionally glabrous or glabrescent. |
spirally arranged, sessile; blade linear-lanceolate, 13–37 × 0.4–2.5 cm (distal leaf blades equal to or narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), apex acuminate, glabrous or occasionally puberulent. |
Inflorescences | terminal, sometimes axillary; bracts foliaceous, well developed, not saccate, sparsely to densely pilose. |
terminal and (rarely) axillary; bracts foliaceous, well developed, not saccate, sparsely to densely pilose. |
Flowers | distinctly pedicillate; pedicels 1–3 cm, usually pilose; sepals not inflated, 7–16 mm, usually uniformly eglandular-pilose, rarely a few inconspicuous glandular hairs present; petals distinct, bright blue to rose, rarely white, broadly ovate, not clawed, 12–19 mm; stamens free; filaments bearded. |
distinctly pedicillate; pedicels 1.2–3.5 cm, eglandular-pilose or puberulent; sepals ± inflated, 7–16 mm, uniformly eglandular-pilose; petals distinct, blue to purple, occasionally rose or white, broadly ovate, not clawed, 1.2–2 cm; stamens free; filaments bearded. |
Capsules | 5–7 mm. |
4–7 mm. |
Seeds | 2–3 mm. |
2–3 mm. |
2n | = 12, 24. |
= 12, 24. |
Tradescantia hirsutiflora |
Tradescantia virginiana |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (Mar–Aug). | Flowering spring–summer (Mar–Jul). |
Habitat | Roadsides, fields, clearings, railroad rights-of-way, scrub, bottomlands, and pine or pine-mixed hardwood woods, usually in sandy soil | Woods, thickets, fields, roadsides and railroad rights-of-way |
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MO; MS; OK; TX
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AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MO; MS; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; ON
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Discussion | Tradescantia hirsutiflora was considered their most ill-defined species by E. Anderson and R. E. Woodson Jr. (1935). The difficulties in separating it from T. virginiana have been mentioned under that species. A specimen from Beaufort County, South Carolina appears to be a hybrid between T. hirsutiflora and T. ohiensis, but there is no record of T. hirsutiflora from the state. Some specimens from Highlands County, Florida will key to, and probably are, T. hirsutiflora. They represent a range disjunction from the Florida panhandle. Their relationships with the co-occurring T. roseolens are being investigated. This species commonly has been confused with Tradescantia hirsuticaulis (J. K. Small 1933; R. P. Wunderlin 1982), perhaps because of the similar name. They are not closely related. Specimens of Tradescantia hirsutiflora with glandular hairs on the sepals were not found by D. T. MacRoberts (1980b). In Texas plants with glandular hairs are frequent, and the glandular hairs may be numerous and conspicuous. These plants, which have been referred to T. bracteata by MacRoberts, need to be investigated further. I have also seen three sheets of T. hirsutiflora from Louisiana and one from Mississippi that have a few inconspicuous glandular hairs among the numerous longer, eglandular ones. The following hybrids are known: Tradescantia hirsutiflora × T. occidentalis, from Alabama, Louisiana; T. hirsutiflora × T. ohiensis, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina; T. hirsutiflora × T. paludosa, Arkansas, Louisiana; and T. hirsutiflora × T. roseolens, Florida. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
The records from the northern parts of the range of Tradescantia virginiana may all represent garden escapes (E. Anderson 1954). The uncertainty about the records from Arkansas and Mississippi reflects the difficulty in identifying some specimens. The specimens in question come from areas in which T. hirsutiflora (but not T. virginiana) has been recorded (E. Anderson and R. E. Woodson Jr. 1935). The exact geographic boundaries between these putatively allopatric species are uncertain. D. T. MacRoberts (1980b) has made a useful contribution toward our knowledge of these species. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 22. | FNA vol. 22, p. 179. |
Parent taxa | Commelinaceae > Tradescantia | Commelinaceae > Tradescantia |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | T. brevicaulis | |
Name authority | Bush: Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis 14:184. (1904) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 288. (1753) |
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