Succulent creeping or trailing cousins of the inch plants, with similar botanical characteristics, but each an individual in its own right:
kewensis—teddy-bear plant—Brown-woolly all over the stem and the tiny pointed-ear leaves.
somaliensis—pussy ears—The fresh green leaves are bent into boat shape, clasping tight to the stem and covered with velvety white fuzz.
veldhoutiana (Tradescantia villosa) (Tradescantia pexata) (Tradescantia sillamontana), and known in the trade as tradescantia ‘White Velvet’ and also ‘White Gossamer’—This tiny plant, more trailing than creeping, has lettuce-green leaves, and stems clothed in long silky silvery-white hairs. It has so many names I fear it would be lost to view if all of its labels were placed around it. I quote all of them in order to avoid confusion and controversy. But according to the Institute de Biologia in Mexico, the correct name is Tradescantia sillamontana.
CARE. Intermediate temperature, needs fresh air, loamy soil, bright light, dry side.
PROPAGATION. Cuttings.
SPECIAL USES. Miniature tropical gardens, greenhouses.
Dionaea muscipula Droseraceae Venus Fly Trap
Never let anyone tell you this little bug-eater will “trap flies on your window sill.” Don’t poke at it to see it close its trap. Avoid disturbing it; let it feed itself naturally. And now that the negatives are covered, do try this braggart elf (give it conditions in which it can grow), for the pleasure in its intricately devised mechanism, one of nature’s wonders. Basically, there’s a five-inch-wide rosette of wide flat stems, a two-part leaf at the end of each making a flat burnished bronze oval with a fringe of thick whiskers. When an insect steps onto this dance floor, the hinges in the center fold the two halves together fast, and that is the end of the bug. White flowers top the tallish stems in spring.
CARE. Cool, humid, sun, soil rich in humus with sphagnum, wet. Dormant in February and March before flowering. Most vigorous growth in spring and summer.