1826 



TRACHYCARPUS 



TRADESCANTIA 



Horticultural View of Trachycarpus. 



A. Trunk clothed until old leaf-sheaths. 



Himalayan species. 



B. Tips of (vs. drooping: Ivs. very glau- 

 cous beneath Martianus 



BB. Tips of Ivs. straight: Ivs. hardly 



glaucous beneath Khasyanus 



AA. Trunk not clothed with old leaf-sheaths. 

 Chinese and Japanese species. 



B. Tips of Ivs. pendulous Fortune! 



BB. Tips of Ivs. straight excelsus 



Following is the Latest Uotanical View of 



Trachycarpus. 



Martianus, H. Wendl. ( T. Khasianus, H. Wendl. T. 

 Griffithii, Decne.). Trunk for the most part naked, 

 annulate : female fls. soli- 

 tary, sessile: drupe oblong, 

 equally rounded at both 

 ends: seed grooved through- 

 out its entire length; em- 

 bryo opposite the middle 

 of the groove. Himalayas. 

 B.M. 7128. R. H. 1879, p. 

 212. 



excelsus, H. Wendl. (T. 

 F6rtunei, H. Wendl.). Fig. 

 2538. Trunk clothed 

 throughout with the old 

 leaf -sheaths : fls. clustered, 



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 ex- 

 ternal being longer. July-Oct. Australia. B.M. 2875. 



3539. Three kinds of 

 Wandering Jew. 



(XH.) 



A, Tradescantia fluminensis : 

 tender, sheaths hairy at 

 top; flowers white. B, Ze- 

 brina pendula : tender ; 

 sheaths hairy at top and 

 bottom; flowers rose -red. 

 C, Commelina nudiflora : 

 hardy ; sheaths "labrous ; 

 flowers blue. 



2-4 on a tubercle: drupe reniform, deeply hollowed 

 on one side; embryo opposite the umbilicus. China, 

 Japan, Upper Burma. B.M. 5221. F.S. 22:2368. 

 R.H. 1868:370; 1870, p. 329. Gn. 47, p. 312; 52, p. 490. 

 G.C. II. 24:305; III. 21:405; 24:420. w M 



Trachycarpus Fortunei is not a popular florist's palm 

 for three reasons: First, it is not as beautiful as Livis- 

 tona C'hinensis; second, it is a slower grower, and this 

 is an unpardonable fault to the average florist; third, 

 there is a greater demand, generally speaking, for pin- 

 nate-leaved palms than for fan-leaved palms. The un- 

 dersigned has not seen a plant of it for several years, 

 but it was cult, in America more than 20 years ago. 



It is dwarf in habit, rather slow-growing, the foliage 

 dark green and somewhat stiff, and in texture decidedly 

 tough. In a young state it bears much resemblance to 

 Livistona australis, though the latter is more spiny and 

 has longer footstalks. -^ j 



TRACHYMENE (Greek, rough membrane; alluding 

 to the fruit). Umbelliferce. A genus of 14 species, 12 

 of which aie Australian annual, biennial or perennial 

 herbs, usually hirsute, with ternately divided leaves and 

 blue or white flowers in terminal umbels. Calyx-teeth 

 minute ; petals entire, obtuse, imbricated : fr. com- 

 pressed. Flora Australiensis, Vol. 3. 



caerulea, R. Grah. (Didiscus cceruleus, DC.). An 

 erect annual about 2 ft. high, somewhat hairy: Ivs. 1-2- 



B.R. 15:1225. 



F. W. BARCLAY. 



TKADESCANTIA (John Tradescant, gardener to 

 Charles I.; died about 1638). Commelinacece. SPIDER- 

 WORT. Thirty-six species are admitted by C. B. Clarke, 

 the latest monographer, 1881 (DC. Monogr. Phaner. 3). 

 This enumeration does not include T. Jiegince and other 

 recent species. They are all American perennial herbs, 

 ranging from Manitoba to Argentina. In habit they are 

 various, varying from erect bushy species to trailing 

 plants rooting at the nodes. The plants are more or 

 less soft and succulent in texture, although usually not 

 fleshy. The leaves are alternate, sheathing, varying 

 from ovate to long-linear-lanceolate. The flowers vary 

 from red to blue and white, sometimes solitary but usu- 

 ally in simple cymes or umbels; sepals and petals each 

 3, free, the sepals sometimes colored ; stamens 6, in 

 some species the alternate ones shorter, the filaments 

 usually more or less bearded at the base or above: 

 ovary 3-loculed, with 2 ovules in each locule, the style 

 single; fr. a 3-loculed dehiscent capsule. The geiius 

 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. 

 Virginica 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 pendula. T. Keqince 

 is perhaps the best known warmhouse 

 species at present, although various 

 species may be' expected in botanic 

 gardens and the collections of ama- 

 teurs. The glasshouse species are 

 essentially foliage plants. Several 

 species have handsomely striped leaves. All Trades- 

 fantias are free growers, propagating with ease from 

 cuttings of the growing shoots. 



A. Plant prostrate, rooting at the joints. 

 fluminensis, Veil. (T. mundula and T. albiflbra, 

 Kunth. T. repens, ripens vittata, viridis, viridis 

 vittata, prostrata, procumbens, striata, Hort. T. tri- 

 color, Hort., in part). WANDERING JEW in part. Figs. 

 2539-41. Glabrous, with shining stems and leaves, the 

 nodes conspicuous, trailing, or the ends of the shoots 

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

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

 white, hairy inside, the 6 stamens all alike, borne sev- 

 eral together in a sessile cluster subtended by 2 un- 

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

 Central Brazil to Argentina. 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 commonly known as 

 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 propa- 

 gated by cuttings or pieces of 

 shoots at any time of the year. 

 The plant needs plenty of moisture 

 in order to grow vigorously. Three 



plants are known as Wandering Flower of Trades- 

 Jew, and although they belong to cantia fluminensis. 

 three genera, it is not easy to tell Natural size, 



them apart when not in flower 



(Fig. 2539). 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; Commelhia nudiflora, sheaths gla- 

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



2540. 



