Details
| Full name | Tradescantia zebrina ‘Leprechaun’. |
| Name status | Accepted, the valid name for a unique cultivar. This newly-registered name is accepted and will be established once published in hardcopy (Brickell et al., 2016, Art. 27.1). |
| Origins | Seedling bred in 2021, as an open-pollinated cross, believed to be between Tradescantia zebrina ‘Purple Plush’ and Tradescantia zebrina ‘Little Hill’. Bred, registered, and introduced by Helen Winnington in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Named by Inge Gazi. |
| Classification | The species Tradescantia zebrina is sometimes labelled with its botanical synonyms Zebrina pendula and Cyanotis zebrina. |
| Legal protection | None. |
| Availability | Newly introduced in the UK. |
Description
| Species | Tradescantia zebrina. |
| Growth habit | Trailing habit, to approximately 30cm. |
| Foliage | Leaves are broadly lance-shaped, about 6cm long and 3cm wide. Background colour of the leaves ranges from green to grape-coloured. Each leaf has two silver bands sometimes overlaid with violet. The surface becomes overlaid with thin, broken violet stripes in sun. The stems and leaf sheaths are densely hairy. The upper leaf surface is scattered with hairs, which are much longer and denser at the edges. |
| Flowers | Flowers are pink with white centre parts. |
| Comparisons | Tradescantia zebrina ‘Purple Plush’ lacks the silver leaf bands, and has a dark pink centre to the flowers. Tradescantia zebrina ‘Little Hill’ has hairless leaves and stems. Tradescantia zebrina ‘Silver Smudge’ has fewer, shorter hairs on the foliage, and longer leaves. |
References
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.