f.i.a 6 



THE TEXAS TRADESCANTIAS.* 

 B. F. Bush. 



It has long been apparent to every one who has attempted 

 to name specimens of Tradescantia by the Manuals and Floras 

 of our countr}^ that great diversities of forms were referred 

 to the Linuean species, Tradescantia Virrjiniana.'^ Conse- 

 quently we tind quite a number of very unlike species bearing 

 that name in our collections. 



Having been familiar for many years with T. reflexa^X which 

 appears to be the most widely distributed of all the forms 

 of the so-called T. Virginiana, as well as the one most 

 generally referred to T. Virginiana from which it is very 

 different, I was very much struck by the different appear- 

 ance of the more common species observed in Texas, during 

 the several years that I was engaged in collecting in that State. 

 My acquaintance with the other Missouri species, T. occiden- 

 talif<,^ T. brevicauHs,\\ T. inlosa,'^ T. Virginiana and T. 

 hracteata** was but meager, although I had collected the 

 last named species repeatedly during the last twenty years. 

 These species are more or less restricted in range within the 

 State, while T. rejiexa is very common throughout its 

 borders. 



My attention and interest were more fully aroused in the 

 sj)ecies of this genus by the examination of some specimens 

 collected in Eastern Texas by Mr. J. Reverchon in 1902 and 

 1903, and I clearly perceived that these specimens could not 



* Presented by title to The Academy of Science of St. Louis, November 

 21, 1904. 



t L. Sp. PI. 288. (1753). 



X Raf. New Flora. 2:87. (1836;. 



§ Britton, Man. Nor. States and Can. 241. (1901). 



II Raf. Atl. Jour. 150. (1832). 



^ J, G. C. Lehm. Nov. Act. Leop. 14. Part 2. Fl. 48. (1828). 



♦•Small, Britton & Brown, 111. Flora. 3:510. (1898). 



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