Tradescantia zebrina |
Tradescantia fluminensis |
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inchplant, wandering-jew |
small-leaf spiderwort, white-flower wandering jew |
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Habit | Herbs, decumbent. | Herbs, decumbent, rooting at nodes. |
Leaves | 2-ranked; blade variegated, abaxially reddish purple, adaxially striped green and white, lanceolate-elliptic to ovate-elliptic, 3–9 × 1.5–3 cm (distal leaf blades wider or narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), base oblique, cuneate, apex acute to acuminate. |
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. |
Inflorescences | terminal, consisting of pairs of sessile cymes enclosed in sheaths of spathaceous bracts, pedunculate; spathaceous bracts foliaceous, reduced. |
terminal, becoming leaf-opposed, sometimes axillary from distalmost leaf axil, 1–2 cyme pairs per stem; bracts mostly foliaceous, occasionally reduced. |
Flowers | subsessile; sepals basally connate, 4–5 mm; petals pink, clawed, claws basally connate forming tube; stamens epipetalous; filaments bearded. |
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. |
Capsules | 3-locular; locules 2-seeded. |
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Tradescantia zebrina |
Tradescantia fluminensis |
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Phenology | Flowering fall–winter (Sep–Feb). | Flowering spring–fall. |
Habitat | Hummocks and weedy places | Woods, roadsides, and open areas, sometimes as weed |
Distribution |
FL; native; tropical America [Introduced in North America] |
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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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 | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Zebrina pendula | |
Name authority | Hort ex Bosse: Vollstandiges Handb. Blumengart. 4: 655. (1849) | Vellozo: Florae Fluminensis 140; plate vol. 3, 152. (1829) |
Web links |