The Inch Plant (Tradescantia zebrina), also known as the Wandering Jew, is a beautiful, trailing evergreen plant. Its leaves are bright green with purple or silvery stripes, glossy on top and purple underneath. This plant grows quickly, and its stems readily root at the nodes. It produces small, pink or purple flowers. Because it tolerates low light and infrequent watering, it is easy to grow indoors.
Scientific Name: Tradescantia zebrina
Some Basic Information about Inch Plant (Tradescantia zebrina) - The hanging plant
Habit: Perennial, creeping or trailing herb, forming dense mats or long hanging stems. Grows vigorously and roots easily at nodes
Root: Adventitious roots arise readily from nodes when stems touch soil or moist surfaces
Stem: Prostrate or trailing, succulent, branched, green to purplish
Internodes short; stems are soft and break easily but re-root quickly
Leaf: Alternate, simple, sessile or shortly petiolate. Shapes vary from ovate to lanceolate. Leaves are often variegated with green, silver, and purple stripes. Underside typically purplish
Inflorescence: Axillary clusters or terminal cymes, usually enclosed in persistent boat-shaped bracts
Flower: Small but attractive; actinomorphic, bisexual, complete. Colors range from white to pink or purple, depending on the species
Calyx: Sepals 3, free, green
Corolla: Petals 3, free, usually brightly colored; imbricate aestivation
Androecium: Stamens 6, often with hairy filaments; anthers yellow
Gynoecium: Ovary superior, tricarpellary, syncarpous; style single with a small stigma
Fruit: Small loculicidal capsule containing several seeds
Systematic Position:
Division – Angiospermae
Class – Monocotyledonae
Order – Commelinales
Family – Commelinaceae
Genus – Tradescantia
Species – Commonly zebrina, fluminensis, or pallida
