Tradescantia spathacea

Tradescantia spathacea Sw., Prodr. Veg. Ind. Occ. 57. 1788; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 24: 38; Fl. North Amer. @ eFloras.org vol. 22; Rhoeo discolour L’Her., Ann. Bot. Syst. 3: 660. 1852; R. spathacea (Sw.) Stearn, Baileya 5: 198. 1957; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 2; Tradescantia discolour L’Her., Sert. Angl. 8. 1789.

Perennial herb. Stem erect, short, 30-60 cm tall, glabrous, often forming colonies. Leaves crowded on congested nodes, spirally arranged, imbricate, erect, sessile, 20-35 cm long, 3-5 cm broad, sublanceolate to oblanceolate, subfleshy, brittle, margin entire, apex acute to acuminate, greenish above, purplish-red below, leaf base sheathing. Cymes condensed with numerous flowers, axillary, enclosed by 2-3 short boat-shaped, broadly ovate involucral bracts, 2-4 cm long, 2.5-5 cm broad, forming an involucre of the size ca. 2.5-5 x 6.5 cm, involucre pedunculate, peduncle ca. 3 cm long with few smaller sterile bractlets. Flowers white, 1-1.5 cm across; pedicels 1.3- 1.5 cm long, whitish. Sepals 3, free, ovate-lanceolate, ca. 5 mm x 3 mm, white. Petals 3, free, ovate, ca. 8 mm long, white. Stamens 6, all perfect, 4-5 mm long; filaments bearded, near to base; anthers obovate, ca. 1 mm x 2 mm, bithecous, longitudinal dehiscence, sometimes 1 or 2 (especially filament) partly modified into petaloid structures. Ovary sessile, 3-locular with one (occasionally 2) ovule per locule; style 2.5-3 mm long, stigma capitate. Capsules ovoid, 3-locular or 1-2 locular by abortion, 3-4 mm long and broad, loculicidal, 3-valved. Seeds one per locule, 3-4 mm x 1.7-2 mm, oblong-ellipsoid.

Flowering and Fruiting: Almost throughout the year
Common Names: Boat Lily, Moses in the Cradle, Oyester Plant, Men in a Boat, Boat Plant