Weeds of Australia - Fact Sheet

Top Scientific Name Synonyms Family Common Names Origin Naturalised Distribution Notes

Scientific Name

Tradescantia spathacea Sw.

Synonyms

Rhoeo discolor (L'Hér.) Hance
Rhoeo spathacea (Sw.) Stearn
Tradescantia discolor L'Hér.

Family

Commelinaceae

Common Names

boat lily, boat plant, boat-lily, boatlily, cradle lily, Moses in a boat, Moses in a cradle, Moses in the basket, Moses in the cradle, Moses-in-a-basket, Moses-in-a-boat, Moses-in-the-bulrushes, Moses-in-his-cradle, Moses-in-the-cradle, oyster plant, oysterplant, rhoeo, three men in a boat, three-men-in-the-boat

Origin

Native to southern Mexico, Central America (i.e. Belize and Guatemala) and the Caribbean.

Naturalised Distribution

Occasionally naturalised in coastal districts of northern and central Queensland. Also naturalised on Lord Howe Island, Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands.

Widely naturalised overseas in southern Africa (i.e. Kenya and Tanzania), temperate Asia (e.g. China and Japan), south-western USA (i.e. Louisiana and Florida), the Seychelles, La Réunion and on some Pacific islands (e.g. the Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Guam, Niue, New Caledonia, Palau, Western Samoa, Tonga and Hawaii).

Notes

Moses-in-the-cradle (Tradescantia spathacea) is regarded as an environmental weed in Queensland and is also listed in the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD).