ionantha—Three-inch tuft of pewter-gray leaves turn fiery red at flowering time, January-February. The inflorescence is an incredible paddle-shaped composition of fat, flat, tightly overlapping bracts, and the plant sends out large violet flowers day after day.
stricta—Shaggy “head” of very narrow, every-which-way leaves silvered with finest gray fuzz; short-stemmed spikes with shocking-pink bracts and blue-violet flowers.
CARE. Warm, humid, orchid-growing medium, wire to board with orchid peat. Moist during spring and summer. Dry in dark winter months, when plant is semidormant.
PROPAGATION. Offshoots.
SPECIAL USES. “Log” gardens, tree slabs.
Tradescantia Commelinaceae Spiderwort, Inch Plant, Wandering Jew
Most varieties of the inch plants that cheerfully romp all over indoor gardens are, of course, too rambunctious to be called miniature. But there are two species of much more modest proportions and habit.
multiflora—Unmistakably an inch plant, but with stems more threadlike than succulent; small, slim (even quite thin) leaves plain dark green, tinted purple beneath; and clusters of tiny white winking flowers. The effect is, believe it or not, delicate and “ferny.”
navicularis—China plant—Curious succulent creeper with very thick stems threaded through widely spaced pairs of clasping leaves folded tightly down the center; rose-purple flowers.
CARE. Easy culture, intermediate temperature, needs fresh air, loamy soil, filtered sun, dry side.