{"id":2173,"date":"2006-11-04T10:09:27","date_gmt":"2006-11-04T15:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.1.5\/gardens\/gardenlog\/?p=2173"},"modified":"2017-07-18T12:23:09","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T17:23:09","slug":"callisia-repens-mystery-weed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/plant-highlights\/callisia-repens-mystery-weed\/","title":{"rendered":"Callisia repens Mystery Weed"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I hear the ground abuzz this time of year I get down on my knees to confirm that my mystery weed is blooming.<\/p>\n

Weed in the sense that I didn’t plant it and it grows where it will. And yet I’m quite happy to have it because it is a bright luscious green almost all year around, even in the worst of the heat and drought. It pales a bit in the heat but the slightest sprinkling of water reinvigorates it. In a freeze any part of it exposed will turn brown. But it comes right back again.<\/p>\n

By structure and habit I would guess this is a kind of miniature wandering Jew (Tradescantia pallida). The juicy stalks are jointed the same way and it sprouts easily wherever you break a piece off and put it in the ground. It forms a dense mat four to six inches thick. And if you decide you don’t want it somewhere it’s easy to remove–the roots are very shallow.<\/p>\n

\"identify<\/p>\n

Once you have it you will always have it. Where to get it. I don’t know. I don’t know where mine came from and I’ve never seen it anywhere else.<\/p>\n

What is it?<\/p>\n

Update: 2006-11-05, Mystery Solved!<\/strong>
\nValerie at Larvalbug<\/a> identifies my mystery weed as Callisia repens<\/i> from a clump I gave her a couple of years ago. It is also known as Tradescantia minima<\/i> which seems to be a very appropriate name since it’s like a miniature Tradescantia pallida<\/i>. It is indeed part of the spiderwort family, Commelinaceae.<\/p>\n

Flora of North America<\/a> says it flowers in Texas in early spring but my experience is that it flowers in late autumn.<\/p>\n

Hawaiin Ecosystems at Risk lists Callisia repens<\/a>, or inch plant, as a plant of Hawaii and has a nice photo…although the leaves on mine are more closely spaced. In contrast, the Aggies have a photo which looks nothing like my plant; they give the common names Bolivian Jew or Turtle Vine<\/a> and recommend it as a houseplant.<\/p>\n

Several sites that list it a houseplant<\/a> say it has purplish in the leaves and show leaves much more ovate than lanceolate. Mine are a bright chartreuse without a hint of purple even on the underside of the leaves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"identify<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5377,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2173\/revisions\/5377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}