Inchplant (Tradescantia zebrina) is a spiderwort species in Commelinaceae, growing vines and climbing, in colonies forming dense mats, having striking zebra-patterned leaves and widely used as ornamental plants.
T. zebrina has green stems with magenta spots, divided into growth segments with roots growing at each junction and the tip is magenta leaf buds. The roots develop in permanent contact with moisture, soil, water or substrate.
Ovoid-shaped leaves, 4-10 cm long, 1.5-3 cm wide and rounded to the base, shiny, growing in a row in each segment, alternating and hairy or hairless. The upper surface is dark green with two wide silver lines parallel to the middle axis, while the bottom surface is magenta.
The flowers in clusters are supported by two large and narrow bracts, hermaphrodite, radial-symmetrical triples. Three sepals are 2-3 mm long, the other three grow on the base petals, ovoid, pink to purple and 5-9 mm long.
Six stamens have purple hair. Three carpels that have become permanent ovaries will form fruit capsules containing gray-brown seeds. At least three varieties are Tradescantia zebrina var. flocculosa, Tradescantia zebrina var. mollipila and Tradescantia zebrina var. zebrina.
TAXON
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Commelinales
Family: Commelinaceae
Subfamily: Commelinoideae
Tribe: Tradescantieae
Subtribe: Tradescantiinae
Genus: Tradescantia Ruppius ex L. in Sp. Pl.: 288 (1753)
Subgenus: Campelia
Section: Campelia
Species: Tradescantia zebrina Regel in Schweiz. Z. Land- Gartenbau 4: 14 (1846)
Variety: Tradescantia zebrina var. flocculosa (G.Brückn.) D.R.Hunt, Tradescantia zebrina var. mollipila D.R.Hunt, Tradescantia zebrina var. zebrina
HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS
Commelina zebrina (Regel) André in Pl. Feuill. Ornem.: 145 (1866)
Cyanotis zebrina (Regel) Nees in Index Seminum (WROCL, Wratislaviensi) 1850: 3 (1851)
PUBLICATIONS
Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2005). Monocotyledons and Gymnosperms of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 52: 1-415.
Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2012). Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1-1192.
Baksh-Comeau, Y., Maharaj, S.S., Adams, C.D., Harris, S.A., Filer, D.L. & Hawthorne, W.D. (2016). An annotated checklist of the vascular plants of Trinidad and Tobago with analysis of vegetation types and botanical 'hotspots'. Phytotaxa 250: 1-431.
Dobignard, A. & Chatelain, C. (2013). Index synonymique de la flore d'Afrique du nord 5: 1-451. Éditions des conservatoire et jardin botaniques, Genève.
Figueiredo, E. & Smith, G.F. (2008). Plants of Angola. Strelitzia 22: 1-279. National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
Figueiredo, E., Paiva, J., Stévart, T., Oliveira, F. & Smith, G.F. (2011). Annotated catalogue of the flowering plants of São Tomé and Príncipe. Bothalia 41: 41-82.
Gosline, G., Bidault, E., van der Burgt, X., Cahen, D., Challen, G., Condé, N., Couch, C., Couvreur, T.L.P., Dagallier, L.M.J., Darbyshire, I., Dawson, S., Doré, T.S., Goyder, D., Grall, A., Haba, P., Haba, P., Harris, D., Hind, D.J.N., Jongkind, & al. (2023). A Taxonomically-verified and Vouchered Checklist of the Vascular Plants of the Republic of Guinea. Nature, scientific data 10, Article number: 327: [1]-[12].
Govaerts, R. (2004). World Checklist of Monocotyledons Database in ACCESS: 1-54382. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
Jørgensen, P.M., Nee, M.H. & Beck., S.G. (eds.) (2013). Catálogo de las plantas vasculares de Bolivia. Monographs in Systematic Botany from the Missouri Botanical Garden 127: 1-1741. Missouri Botanical Garden.
López-Ferrari, A.R., Espejo-Serna, A. & Ceja-Romero, J. (2014). Flora de Veracruz 161: 1-127. Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones sobre Recursos Bióticos, Xalapa, Veracruz.
Muer, T., Sauerbier, H. & Cabrara Calixto, F. (2020). Die Farn- und Blütenpflanzen Madeiras: 1-792. Verlag und Versandbuchhandlung Andreas Kleinsteuber.
Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas: 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Pasha, M.K. & Uddin, S.B. (2013). Dictionary of plant names of Bangladesh, Vasc. Pl.: 1-434. Janokalyan Prokashani, Chittagong, Bangladesh.
Pellegrini, M.O.O. (2017). Morphological phylogeny of Tradescantia L. (Commelinaceae) sheds light on a new infrageneric classification for the genus and novelties on the systematics of subtribe Tradescantiinae. PhytoKeys 89: 11-72.
Plunkett, G.M., Ranker, T.A., Sam, C. & Balick, M.J. (2022). Towards a checklist of the vascular flora of Vanuatu. Candollea 77: 105-118.
Sauerbier, H., Cabrera Calixto, F. & Muer, T. (2023). Flora Vascular de Canarias: 1-1514. Turquesa.
Sosef, M.S.M. & al. (2006). Check-list des plantes vasculaires du Gabon. Scripta Botanica Belgica 35: 1-438.
Verloove, Fl. & Reyes-Betancort, J.A. (2011). Additions to the flora of Tenerife (Canary islands, Spain). Collectanea Botanica 30: 63-78.
de Lange, P.J., Gardner, R.O., Sykes, W.R., Crowcroft, G.M., Cameron, E.K., Stalker, F., Christian, M.L. & Braggins, J.E. (2005). Vascular flora of Norfolk Island: some additions and taxonomic notes. New Zealand Journal of Botany 43: 563-596.
VERNACULAR NAME
Afrikaans: Gestreepte Wandelende Jood
Arabic: إينشبلانت
Chinese (Simplified): 吊竹梅
Chinese (Traditional): 吊竹梅 - 水竹草 - 紅苞鴨跖草 - 吊竹草
Czech: Podeňka pruhovaná
Danish: Blomstervugge
Dutch: Gestreepte Tradescantia
English: Inchplant, Wandering Jew, Zebra Wandering Jew, Silver inch plant
Finnish: Kirjojuoru
French: Misère
Hong Kong: 吊竹梅
Indonesian: Rumput belang, Zebrakraut, Zebrina
Japanese: シマムラサキツユクサ
Java: Tapak belang
Lithuanian: Dryžuotoji tradeskantė
Macao: 吊竹梅
Polish: Trzykrotka pasiasta
Portuguese: Trapoeraba-zebra, Lambari
Russian: Традесканция зебрина
Slovak: Tradeskancia zebrovitá
Spanish: matalí, Cucaracha, cola de pollo, panameña, Suelda con suelda, Oreja de tigre
Swedish: Zebrablad
Taiwan: 吊竹梅 - 吊竹草
Thai: ก้ามปูหลุด
Turkish: Alacalı Telgraf Çiçeği
Ukrainian: Традесканція смугаста
Aryo Bandoro
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