Details
| Full name | Tradescantia Andersoniana Group. |
| Name status | Accepted, the valid name for a cultivar group. Established by Ludwig & Rohweder (1954). Because it was published before 1959, the Latin name with no description can be accepted (Brickell et al., 2016, Arts. 21.11, 27.1). Plants of this group are often incorrectly labelled as Tradescantia virginiana, or the invalid botanical hybrid Tradescantia × andersoniana. |
| Origins | A loosely-related group of hybrid cultivars which have developed through a combination of deliberate and uncontrolled breeding in cultivation (Anderson, 1952, Chapter 2). |
| Classification | The name was originally published as Tradescantia × andersoniana (Ludwig & Rohweder, 1954). This is not considered a valid botanical hybrid due to lack of desription (Walters et al., 1989, p. 31), so it is now treated as a cultivar group with the same name (Brickell et al., 2016, Art. 21.6). This group of hybrids contain ancestry from Tradescantia virginiana, Tradescantia ohiensis, Tradescantia subaspera, and possibly other species (Anderson & Woodson, 1935, p. 30; Anderson, 1952, Chapter 2). |
| Included cultivars | Because temperate Tradescantia plants hybridise so readily, all hardy garden hybrids of the subgenus Tradescantia are now placed in this group unless they are known to have originated from wild species collections. View all Tradescantia Andersoniana Group cultivars. |
Description
| Species | Tradescantia. |
| Growth habit | Deciduous or sometimes evergreen herbaceous perennials. Grow in clumps or mounds which can range from 15-150cm high. |
| Foliage | Long grass-like leaves which may be smooth or hairy, ranging from golden-yellow to dark green. |
| Flowers | Wide variety of petal colours including white, pink, blue, red, and purple. Petals may have round or pointed tips, sometimes pleated centres, sometimes ruffled edges. |
References
Anderson, E. & Woodson, R. E. (1935). The species of Tradescantia indigenous to the United States. Contributions from the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University, 9. doi:10.5962/bhl.title.153160. Biodiversity Heritage Library link.
Anderson, E. (1952). Plants, Man & Life. University of California Press.
Ludwig, W. & Rohweder, O. (1954). Zur Nomenklatur zweier Commelinaceen [On the nomenclature of two Commelinaceae]. Feddes repertorium specierum novarum regni vegetabilis, 56(3), 282. doi:10.1002/fedr.19540560304. Open access link.
Walters, S. M., Brady, A., Brickell, C. D., Cullen, J., Green, P. S., Lewis, J., Matthews, V. A., Webb, D. A., Yeo, P. F. & Alexander, J. C. M. (1989). The European Garden Flora: Volume II. Cambridge University Press.
Brickell, C. D., Alexander, C., Cubey, J. J., David, J. C., Hoffman, M. H. A., Leslie, A. C., Malécot, V., Jin, X. (2016). International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants. PDF link.