Tradescantia zebrina |
Tradescantia ohiensis |
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inchplant, wandering-jew |
bluejacket, Ohio spiderwort, smooth spiderwort |
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Habit | Herbs, decumbent. | Herbs, erect or ascending, rarely rooting at nodes. |
Stems | 15–115 cm; internodes glabrous or occasionally pilose, glaucous. |
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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, forming acute angle with stem, arcuate; blade linear to linear-lanceolate, 5–45 × 0.4–4.5 cm (distal leaf blades equal to or narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), apex acuminate, glaucous, usually glabrous, sometimes pilose near sheath. |
Inflorescences | terminal, consisting of pairs of sessile cymes enclosed in sheaths of spathaceous bracts, pedunculate; spathaceous bracts foliaceous, reduced. |
terminal and 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 0.7–3 cm, glabrous; sepals glaucous, 4–15 mm, glabrous or with apical tuft of eglandular hairs; petals distinct, deep blue to rose, rarely white, broadly ovate, not clawed, 0.8–2 cm; stamens free; filaments bearded. |
Capsules | 3-locular; locules 2-seeded. |
4–6 mm. |
Seeds | 2–3 mm. |
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2n | = 12, 24. |
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Tradescantia zebrina |
Tradescantia ohiensis |
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Phenology | Flowering fall–winter (Sep–Feb). | Flowering late winter–fall (Feb (Fla)–Sep). |
Habitat | Hummocks and weedy places | Roadsides, railroad rights-of-way, fields, thickets, less commonly in woods, occasionally along streams |
Distribution |
FL; native; tropical America [Introduced in North America] |
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; MI; MN; MO; MS; NC; NE; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; WI; WV; ON
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Discussion | Tradescantia ohiensis is the most common and widespread species in the United States. It hybridizes with many of the other species. Tradescantia ohiensis var. foliosa (Small) MacRoberts has been recognized for the forms with pilose leaves and sheaths (D. T. MacRoberts 1977). I have found such plants scattered among populations of glabrous plants, and I do not consider them worthy of formal taxonomic status. The following hybrids are known: Tradescantia ohiensis × T. gigantea, in Louisiana and Texas; T. ohiensis × T. hirsuticaulis, Arkansas; T. ohiensis × T. occidentalis, Arkansas, Louisiana; T. ohiensis × T. ozarkana, Arkansas; T. ohiensis × T. paludosa, Louisiana (reported by MacRoberts, 1980); T. ohiensis × T. roseolens, Alabama, Florida; T. ohiensis × T. subaspera, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia; and T. ohiensis × T. virginiana, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Source | FNA vol. 22. | FNA vol. 22, p. 178. |
Parent taxa | ||
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Zebrina pendula | T. canaliculata, T. foliosa, T. incarnata, T. reflexa |
Name authority | Hort ex Bosse: Vollstandiges Handb. Blumengart. 4: 655. (1849) | Rafinesque: Précis Découv. Somiol. 45. (1814) |
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