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inchplant, wandering-jew

prairie spiderwort, spiderwort

Habit Herbs, decumbent. Herbs, erect or ascending, rarely rooting at nodes.
Stems

5–90 cm;

internodes glaucous, glabrous.

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.

spirally arranged, sessile;

blade linear-lanceolate, 5–50 × 0.2–3 cm (distal leaf blades equal to or narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), apex acuminate, glaucous, glabrous.

Inflorescences

terminal, consisting of pairs of sessile cymes enclosed in sheaths of spathaceous bracts, pedunculate; spathaceous bracts foliaceous, reduced.

terminal, often axillary;

bracts foliaceous.

Flowers

subsessile;

sepals basally connate, 4–5 mm;

petals pink, clawed, claws basally connate forming tube;

stamens epipetalous;

filaments bearded.

distinctly pedicillate;

pedicels 0.8–3 cm, glandular-puberulent, rarely glabrous or glabrescent;

sepals 4–11 mm, glandular-puberulent, usually with apical tuft of eglandular hairs, occasionally with scattered eglandular hairs among glandular, rarely glabrous or glabrescent;

petals distinct, bright blue to rose or magenta, broadly ovate, not clawed, 6–16 mm;

stamens free;

filaments bearded.

Capsules

3-locular;

locules 2-seeded.

4–7 mm.

Seeds

2–4 mm.

Tradescantia zebrina

Tradescantia occidentalis

Phenology Flowering fall–winter (Sep–Feb).
Habitat Hummocks and weedy places
Distribution
from FNA
FL; native; tropical America [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AR; AZ; CO; IA; KS; LA; MN; MT; ND; NE; NM; OK; SD; TX; UT; WI; WY; MB
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

All of the chromosome counts cited by E. Anderson (1954) for this species are attributable to Tradescantia occidentalis var. occidentalis.

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Key
1. Sepals and pedicels ± uniformly glandular-puberulent, rarely nearly glabrous
var. occidentalis
1. Sepals and pedicels completely glabrous
var. scopulorum
Source FNA vol. 22. FNA vol. 22.
Parent taxa Commelinaceae > Tradescantia Commelinaceae > Tradescantia
Sibling taxa
T. bracteata, T. brevifolia, T. buckleyi, T. crassifolia, T. crassula, T. edwardsiana, T. ernestiana, T. fluminensis, T. gigantea, T. hirsuticaulis, T. hirsutiflora, T. humilis, T. leiandra, T. longipes, T. occidentalis, T. ohiensis, T. ozarkana, T. pallida, T. paludosa, T. pedicellata, T. pinetorum, T. reverchonii, T. roseolens, T. spathacea, T. subacaulis, T. subaspera, T. tharpii, T. virginiana, T. wrightii
T. bracteata, T. brevifolia, T. buckleyi, T. crassifolia, T. crassula, T. edwardsiana, T. ernestiana, T. fluminensis, T. gigantea, T. hirsuticaulis, T. hirsutiflora, T. humilis, T. leiandra, T. longipes, T. ohiensis, T. ozarkana, T. pallida, T. paludosa, T. pedicellata, T. pinetorum, T. reverchonii, T. roseolens, T. spathacea, T. subacaulis, T. subaspera, T. tharpii, T. virginiana, T. wrightii, T. zebrina
Subordinate taxa
T. occidentalis var. occidentalis, T. occidentalis var. scopulorum
Synonyms Zebrina pendula T. virginiana var. occidentalis
Name authority Hort ex Bosse: Vollstandiges Handb. Blumengart. 4: 655. (1849) (Britton) Smyth: Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science 16: 163. (1899)
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