Zebrina pendula Schnizl.

• Authority

  Britton, Nathaniel L. Flora Borinqueña.

• Family

  Commelinaceae

• Scientific Name

  Zebrina pendula Schnizl.

• Description

  Species Description - A trailing, or drooping, perennial, herbaceous plant, with characteristically banded leaves, readily propagated by cuttings, and often planted for ornament, as it will rapidly cover banks, or low walls. It is widely distributed in tropical America, ranging north to Florida, and naturalized in Bermuda, in Porto Rico it inhabits mountain woods and banks, at middle and higher elevations in the wet or moist districts, but is often planted at lower altitudes. We have found no Spanish popular name in use. Zebrina (from Zebra, a name of African origin, presumably referring to the banded leaves) is a monotypic genus, established by the German botanist Schnitzlein in 1849, about a year before the plant was described, under another name, by the English botanist Lindley. Zebrina pendula (pendulous) becomes from 0.3 to about 1 meter long. The ovate or lance-shaped, pointed leaves are from 3 to 7 centimeters long, with an inequilaterally rounded base, short-stalks, and long-hairy sheaths; the upper surface is silvery-green, or silvery-white, the central part and the margins purple-striped; the under-side is red-purple. The flowers are borne in a small dense cluster, subtended by 2, unequal spathes, at the end of a long, terminal stalk; the 3 calyx-segments are lance-shaped, and about 5 millimeters long; the pink corolla has a tube about 6 millimeters long, with 3, ovate lobes a little shorter; there are 6 stamens, borne on the corolla-tube. The smooth, 5-celled ovary has 1 or 2 ovules in each cell. The fruit is a small capsule, splitting into 3 valves.

• Discussion

  Wandering Jew Spiderwort Family Zebrina pendula Schnitzlein, Botanische Zeitung 7: 870. 1849. Cyanotis vittata Lindley, Journal of the Horticultural Society of London 5: 159. 1850.