Tradescantia zebrina Bosse
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Commelinaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Prostrate or trailing herb; branches few to numerous, to 35 cm long, rooting at nodes; stems slender, glabrous to pilose. Leaves spreading, alternate (distichous); blades 3—10(—12) x 1.5-3.7 cm, ovate-lanceolate, fleshy when fresh, chartaceous when dried, green, white-striped along both sides of midvein above, reddish purple below, the margins purplish, the apex acute, the base narrowed into a short petiole forming a tubular sheath 6-8 mm long. Inflorescences terminal, shortened, subtended by 2 leaflike bracts. Sepals 5-7 mm long, lanceolate; corolla rose-violet, the tube 5-6 mm long, the lobes 4-6 mm long, ovate, spreading; stamens exserted, the filaments the same color as corolla, pilose, the anthers on elongate connectives, both white; ovary 3-locular, ovules 2 per locule, the style exserted, white. Capsule trilocular. Seeds 1 or 2 per locule, ellipsoid, 1.3-1.5 X 1 mm , rugulose.
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Discussion
Zebrina pendula Schnizl., Bot. Zeitung (Berlin) 7: 870. 1849. Tradescantia pendula (Schnizl.) Hunt, K ew Bull. 36: 197. 1981.
Common name: wandering Jew.
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Distribution
Cultivated but becoming naturalized. Along trail to L'Esperance (A4250). Native to Mexico but naturalized throughout the neotropics.
Saint John Virgin Islands of the United States South America|