Tradescantia zebrina |
Tradescantia subacaulis |
|
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inchplant, wandering-jew |
stemless spiderwort |
|
Habit | Herbs, decumbent. | Herbs, erect or ascending, rarely rooting at nodes. |
Roots | thick, brownish-tomentose. |
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Stems | spreading, diffusely branched, particularly at base, 10–30 cm, arachnoid-villous or rarely nearly glabrescent. |
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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. |
relatively lax and flaccid; blade deep green, linear-lanceolate, 10–18 × 0.5–1.5 cm (distal leaf blades equal to or narrower than sheaths when sheaths opened, flattened), ± arachnoid-villous as on stems. |
Inflorescences | terminal, consisting of pairs of sessile cymes enclosed in sheaths of spathaceous bracts, pedunculate; spathaceous bracts foliaceous, reduced. |
terminal, solitary, often with axillary, pedunculate inflorescences from distal nodes; bracts foliaceous, similar to leaves in form, ± arachnoid-villous. |
Flowers | subsessile; sepals basally connate, 4–5 mm; petals pink, clawed, claws basally connate forming tube; stamens epipetalous; filaments bearded. |
violet-scented; distinctly pedicillate; pedicels 2–3 cm, puberulent or pilose with mixed glandular, eglandular hairs; sepals green or suffused with rose or purple, 7–8 mm, pubescent with mixture of glandular, eglandular hairs; petals distinct, bright blue, broadly ovate, not clawed, 13–14 mm; stamens free; filaments bearded. |
Capsules | 3-locular; locules 2-seeded. |
5–6 mm. |
Seeds | 2–3 mm; hilum as long as seed. |
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2n | = 12. |
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Tradescantia zebrina |
Tradescantia subacaulis |
|
Phenology | Flowering fall–winter (Sep–Feb). | Flowering spring (Mar–Jun). |
Habitat | Hummocks and weedy places | Sandy soil |
Distribution |
FL; native; tropical America [Introduced in North America] |
TX |
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) | Bush |
Web links |