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Tradescantia spathacea

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Photographs by: Dr. Maulik Gadani

  • Botanical Name : Tradescantia spathacea Sw.
  • Synonyms : Rhoeo discolor (L'Her.) Hance
  • Plant Family : Commelinaceae
  • Plant Form : Herb
  • Occurrence (Sectors) : 5, 21, 24, 26, 27, 30

About Tradescantia spathacea Plant :

  • Habit : A short-stemmed low herb.
  • Leaves : Densely imbricated, long, narrow-lanceolate, base vaginate, steel blue and red-brown or purplish below.
  • Inflorescence : Umbel
  • Flowers :
    • Flowers many in a dense umbel, enclosed by 2-boat shaped bracts, white.
    • Sepals 3, ovate-lanceolate, withering.
    • Petals 3, ovate withering.
    • Stamens 6, hypogynous, fertile, filaments with moniliform or bearded hairs.
    • Ovary superior, 3-celled with 1 ovule in each cell.
  • Fruit : A capsule
  • Flowering and Fruiting Time : August - November
  • Significance :
    • Cultivated in gardens as a beautiful pot plant.
    • Also widely used for demonstration experiments of plasmolysis and protoplasmic movement.