Tradescantia fluminensis
Trad
DESCRIPTION
Perennial succulent herb with fibrous roots; prostrate or ascending at tips. Branching stems, easily taking root at the nodes. Subsessile, glabrous ovate- lanceolate leaves, 2.5–5.5cm long by 1–2.5cm wide, acuminate tips, subcordate base; sheath 5–8mm long, fringed with hairs at orifice.
FLOWERS AND FRUIT
White flowers during spring to summer, 15-20 per inflorescence, pedicels 1–2 cm long, green sepals 5–8mm long, broadly ovate to elliptical petals 7–10mm long, staminal filaments bearded with long white hairs.
HABITAT AND RANGE
A garden escapee found in high rainfall areas on creek banks and in moist shaded places, including rainforest communities, from Endeavour River in Queensland’s Cape York to southern Tasmania in a series of disjunct populations. A native of South America.
Herbs 33
