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Scientific Name
Synonyms
Family
Common Names
Origin
Cultivation
Naturalised Distribution
Habitat
Habit
Distinguishing Features
Stems and Leaves
Flowers and Fruit
Reproduction and Dispersal
Environmental Impact
Legislation
Management
Similar Species
Sponsor
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Click on images to enlarge

infestation (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

dense infestation in flower (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

creeping habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

habit in flower (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

leaves (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of fleshy leaves with glossy upper surfaces (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of fleshy stem and flower cluster with flower from side-on (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

flower with three pointed white petals (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of flowers with six yellow stamens covered with a beard of whitish hairs (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

comparison of the leaves of trad (Tradescantia fluminensis), on the left, and native wandering Jew (Tradescantia diffusa), on the right (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

habit of variegated trad (Tradescantia fluminensis 'Variegata') growing in a garden (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of the leaves and flowers of Tradescantia fluminensis 'Variegata' (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

Tradescantia fluminensis

Scientific Name

Tradescantia fluminensis Vell.

Synonyms

Tradescantia albiflora Kunth

Family

Commelinaceae

Common Names

creeping Christian, green wandering Jew, inch plant, inch-plant, small leaf spiderwort, small-leaf spiderwort, spider wort, spider-wort, spiderwort, trad, wanderer, wandering creeper, wandering Jew, wandering trad, wandering tradescantia, wandering Willie, water spiderwort, white flowered wandering Jew, white-flowered wandering Jew

Origin

Native to South America (i.e. south-eastern Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay).

Cultivation

This species has been cultivated as a garden ornamental, particularly in the cooler and wetter parts of the country. A form with variegated leaves (i.e. Tradescantia fluminensis 'Variegata') has been particularly popular in cultivation. It has leaves with white, cream or yellowish-coloured stripes.

Naturalised Distribution

Widely naturalised in southern and eastern Australia (i.e. in eastern Queensland, eastern New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, south-eastern South Australia and south-western Western Australia). Also naturalised on Lord Howe Island.

Widely naturalised overseas in southern Europe (e.g. Portugal and Italy), the Canary Islands, southern Africa (i.e. South Africa and Swaziland), temperate Asia (e.g. Russia and Japan), New Zealand, the Galápagos Islands, Hawaii and southern USA (i.e. California, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Kentucky).

Habitat

A weed of forests, forest margins, urban bushland, open woodlands, riparian vegetation, roadsides, ditches, waste areas, disturbed sites and gardens. It prefers damp and shaded areas in temperate and sub-tropical regions, but will also grow in more open habitats and in tropical regions.

Habit

A long-lived (i.e. perennial) herbaceous plant with trailing or creeping (i.e. prostrate or decumbent) stems up to 4 m long. It often grows as a groundcover and forms a dense mat of vegetation.

Distinguishing Features

Stems and Leaves

The stems are somewhat fleshy (i.e. semi-succulent) in nature, branched, and produce roots (i.e. adventitious roots) at each of the swollen joints (i.e. nodes).

The glossy leaves are alternately arranged and their bases form short sheaths (5-10 mm long) around the creeping stems. The somewhat fleshy (i.e. semi-succulent) leaf blades (3-6.5 cm long and 1-3 cm wide) are dark green on top and often slightly purplish underneath. They may be either broadly lance-shaped (i.e. lanceolate), egg-shaped in outline (i.e. ovate), or oblong with entire margins and pointed tips (i.e. acute apices). Leaf sheaths can be either hairy (i.e. pubescent) or hairless (i.e. glabrous), while the leaf blades are hairless, or occasionally with some small hairs (i.e. cilia) along their margins.

Flowers and Fruit

The flowers (about 2 cm across) are borne in small clusters near the tips of the branches. Each cluster has two small leafy bracts at the base and the individual flowers are borne on stalks (i.e. pedicels) 1-1.5 cm long. They have three white petals (7-10 mm long) with pointed tips (i.e. acute apices), three greenish sepals (6-8 mm long), and six small yellow stamens. Flowering occurs mainly during spring and summer.

The fruit are small capsules, with three chambers. However, this species is not known to produce viable seed in Australia. Black, pitted seeds are produced overseas.

Reproduction and Dispersal

This plant only reproduces vegetatively in Australia, by producing roots at the joints (i.e. nodes) of stems that come into contact with the soil (i.e. stolons).

Stem fragments easily break off and may be dispersed by water, vehicles, machinery, in dumped garden waste or in contaminated soil.

Environmental Impact

Trad (Tradescantia fluminensis) is a significant environmental weed in Victoria and New South Wales, an environmental weed in South Australia, Queensland and Tasmania, and a potential environmental weed in Western Australia and the ACT. It was recently listed as a priority environmental weed in four Natural Resource Management regions in Australia.

Legislation

This species is declared under legislation in the following states and territories:

Management

For information on the management of this species see the following resources:

Similar Species

Trad (Tradescantia fluminensis) can be easily confused with the native aneilema (Aneilema biflorum ). It is also relatively similar to native wandering Jew (Commelina diffusa ), hairy wandering Jew (Commelina benghalensis ) and zebrina (Tradescantia zebrina). These species can be distinguished by the following differences:


This fact sheet has been updated thanks to the sponsorship of Sunshine Coast Council.