TRACHYMEXE 



TRADESCAXTIA 



3363 



hairy: Ivs. 1-2-triparted, with linear, acute, 3-cut 

 lobes: peduncles long, bearing an umbel 2-3 in. across 

 of very numerous blue fls.; calyx-teeth obsolete; petals 

 unequal, the external being longer. Juty-Oct. Austral. 

 B.M. 2S75. B.R. 1225. G.C. III. 49:114. G. 29:127. 

 Gn . W. 25 : 327. F. W. BARCLAY. 



TRADESCANTIA (named for John Tradescant, gar- 

 dener to Charles I; died about 1638). Commelinaceae. 

 SPIDERWORT. Perennial hardy herbs, varying greatly 

 in habit from erect and bushy to trailing and rooting 

 at the nodes, grown for their ornamental value both 

 out-of-doors and in the greenhouse. 



Stems simple or diffusely branched: Ivs. various: 

 cymes simple, sometimes umbellate or densely panicu- 

 late: fls. more or less pedicelled, few or numerous, 

 rarely solitary, red, blue, or white; sepals distinct, con- 

 cave, green or colored; petals distinct, obovate or orbic- 

 ular; stamens 6, all usually perfect; ovary 3- celled with 

 2 superposed ovules: caps, loculicidally dehiscent. 

 About 90 species, all American, ranging from Manitoba 

 to Argentina. The genus was monographed in 1881 by 

 C. B. Clarke (DC. Monogr. Phaner. 3). The genus 

 Zebrina, usually confounded with this by gardeners, 

 differs, among other things, in having a tubular 

 perianth. 



To horticulturists, tradescantias are known as hardy 

 herbs, coolhouse plants, and warmhouse plants. T. 

 virginiana is the best known of the hardy species, with- 

 standing the climate of the northern states. The wan- 

 dering Jew of greenhouses and hanging-baskets, usu- 

 ally known as T. tricolor, is partly T. fluminensis and 

 partly Zebrina pendida. T. Regime is perhaps the best 

 known warmhouse species at present, although various 

 species may be expected in botanic gardens and the 

 collections of amateurs. The glasshouse species are 

 essentially foliage plants. Several species have hand- 

 somely striped leaves. All tradescantias are free 

 growers, propagating with ease from cuttings of the 

 growing shoots. 



INDEX. 



alba. 7. 

 att>\ flora, 1. 

 atrosanguinea, 7, 

 brevicaulis, 4. 

 cserulea, 7. 

 carnea, 7. 

 coccinea, 7. 

 congests. 7. 

 delicata, 7. 

 dracenoides, 13. 

 elongata, 10. 

 fluminensis, 1. 

 fuscata, 2. 

 geniculata, 9. 



Gofschkei, 1. 

 grandiflora, 7. 

 hypophxa, 9. 

 major, 7. _ 

 montana, 7. 

 mundula, 1. 

 myrtiftora, 1. 

 navicularis, 5. 

 oceidentalis, 8. 

 plena, 7. 

 procumbens, 1. 

 prosiraia, 1. 

 purpurea, 7. 

 reflexa, 6. 



Reginse, 3. 

 repens, L 

 rosea, 11. 

 rubra, 7. 

 striata, 1. 

 tricolor, 1. 

 tumida, 7. 

 violacea, 7. 

 virginiana, 7, 8. 

 rirginica, 7. 

 riridis, 1. 

 rittata, 1. 

 Warscewicriana, 12. 



A. Plant prostrate, rooting at the joints. 



1. fluminensis, Veil. (T. mundula, Kunth. T. albi- 

 flora, Kunth. T. repens, T. repens vittata, T. viridis, 

 T. viridi-s inttata. T. viridis Goeschkei, T. prostrdta, T. 

 procumbent, T. striata, Hort. T. tricolor, Hort., in part. 

 T. myrti flora, Hort.). WANDERING JEW in part. Figs. 

 3829, 3830. Glabrous, with shining sts. and Ivs., the 

 nodes conspicuous, trailing, or the ends of the shoots 

 ascending: Ivs. ovate-acute, without distinct petiole, 

 ciliate at the very base, the sheaths J^-^in. long: fls. 

 white, hairy inside, the 6 stamens all alike, borne several 

 together in a sessile cluster subtended by 2 unequal 

 Ivs. or bracts, the pedicels not all of same age. Cent. 

 Brazil to Argentina. Gt. 16, p. 297. G.W. 13, p. 558. 

 One of the commonest of greenhouse and basket-plants. 

 In greenhouses, usually grown under the benches. 

 When the plants grow very vigorously and have little 

 light, they are usually green, and this is the form com- 

 monly known as T. viridis. There are forms with Ivs. 

 striped yellow and white, but these colors usually do 

 not hold unless there is abundance of sunlight. In 

 light places, the Ivs. become red-purple beneath. Very 

 easily prop, by cuttings or pieces of shoots at any time 



213 



of the year. The plant needs plenty of moisture in 

 order to grow vigorously. Three plants are known as 

 wandering Jew, and although they belong to 3 genera, 

 it is not easy to tell them apart when not in flower 

 (Fig. 3830). These plants are Tradescantia fluminen- 

 sis, sheaths hairy or ciliate only at the top, fls. white; 

 Zebrina pendula, sheaths hairy throughout or at least 

 at base and top, Ivs. redder beneath and always colored 

 above, fls. rose-red; Commelina nudiflora, sheaths gla- 

 brous, fls. blue. The first two are tender to frost; the 

 last is hardy in the open ground in Cent. N. Y. All 

 of them are used for baskets and vases. The first two are 

 best known and are the plants commonly called wan- 

 dering Jew. All of them may have striped foliage. See 

 Commelina and Zebrina. 



AA. Plant erect, or ascending from a decumbent base. 

 B. St. none, or scarcely rising above the ground. 



2. fuscata, Lodd. (Pyrrheima Loddigesii, Hassk.). 

 Stemless, brown-tomentose or hairy: Ivs. 6-8 in. long, 

 oblong-ovate, entire, about 7-nerved, short-petioled: 

 fls. blue or blue-purple, 1 in. or more across, borne in 

 the midst of the Ivs. on very short pedicels; stamens 6. 

 S. Amer. L.B.C. 4:374. B.R. 482. B.M. 2330. 



3829. Wandering Jew. Tradescantia fluminensis. 

 (Natural size.) 



BB. St. evident, usually branching (often very short in 



T. brevicaulis). 

 c. Lvs. distichous (in 2 rows). 



3. Reginae, Lind. & Rod. Stiff-growing upright- 

 plant: Ivs. lanceolater-acuminate, sessile, set closely on 

 opposite sides of the st. and spreading nearly horizon- 

 tally, about 6 in. long, the center purplish crimson, with 

 feathered border, the space toward the margins silvery, 

 the very edge of the If. darker, the under side purple. 

 Peru. I.H. 39:147; 40:173 (3); 41, p. 14. G.C. in. 

 11:699; 13:477. Gn.W. 8:693. R.B. 19:113. Intro, 

 into Belgium from Peru in 1870. Named for the Queen 

 of the Belgians. It was intro. as Dichorisandra Regime, 

 which see, p. 1003. 



cc. Lvs. not distichous (in several rows). 



D. Infl. not peduncled. 



E. Plants nllous. 



4. brevicaulis, Raf. Villous, 1 ft. or less high, some- 

 times nearly acaulescent: Ivs. mostly from near the 

 ground, linear-lanceolate, more or less ciliate: fls. 

 about 1 in. across, blue or rose-purple, in a 4-12-fld. 

 umbel.; pedicel slender, 1-2 in. long; sepals ovate-lan- 

 ceolate, villous. Ky. to Mo. 



