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Tradescantia crassifolia subs. acaulis (M.Martens & Galeotti) López-Ferr., Espejo & Ceja

Family: COMMELINACEAE · Variety or form of Tradescantia crassifolia

Publication: Fl. Veracruz 161: 84 (2014).

Description

Tradescantia acaulis is a low growing perennial succulent with 10-15 cm rosettes growing flat against the soil, at the centre of which is a cluster of pink or bluish short stalked flowers. It very easy to recognize as it is devoid of an apparent stem.

Roots: Fibrous fascicled.

Leaves: Several rosulate, oblong, ovate-lanceolate, canaliculate, acute, entire, enlarged towards the base, hairless to hairy, very succulent, leathery with a thin layer of photosynthetic tissue and thick layers of water storage parenchyma, above green, violet below. Margin bearded with dense woolly hairs.

Inflorescences: Subsessile, arising at the centre of the rosette, peduncles much shorter than leaves, with tight spathe, formed by three bract-like leaflets shaped, a little shorter than the flowers.

Flowers: Between the pairs of boat shaped bracts, scarcely projecting. Tepals 3 purple. Petals 3, pink-violet or bluish, stamens 6. Flower-stalks very short.

Blooming season: Late summer.

Origin and Habitat

Tradescantia acaulis grows on the porphyritic rocks of Cerro Ventoso mountain in the Real del Monte mining district on the edge of the plain of Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico

Altitude: 2000-3000 metres above sea level.

Bibliography

Major references and further lectures

  1. Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet de Lamarck, Jean Louis Marie Poiret “Encyclopédie méthodique botanique: Supplement” Agasse, 1811

  2. M. Hayez., “Bulletins de l’Académie royale des sciences et belles-lettres de Bruxelles” 1842

  3. Govaerts, R. (2004). “World Checklist of Monocotyledons” Database in ACCESS: 1-54382. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

  4. Turner, B.L. (2006). “Texas species of Tradescantia (Commelinaceae).” Phytologia 88: 312-331.

  5. Nelson Sutherland, C.H. (2008). “Catálogo de las plantes vasculares de Honduras. Espermatofitas” 1-1576. SERNA/Guaymuras, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

  6. Accession Data: “Tradescantia crassifolia var. acaulis” (M.Martens & Galeotti) C.B.Clarke <http://florawww.eeb.uconn.edu/200900111.html\> University of Connecticu. Web Fri, 20 Nov 2015