Plant of the Week 12/16/2002: Purple Heart (Tradescantia pallida)

Plant of the Week 12/16/2002

Tradescantia pallida (Rose) D.R. Hunt

Photographed by: Chelsie Vandaveer
Credits: Photographed Purple Heart at the USF Botanical Garden
Other Information: Canon AE-1, Fuji Super HQ 100

The Purple Heart (Tradescantia pallida (Rose) D.R. Hunt) is a member of the Commelinaceae, the spiderwort or dayflower family. Purple Heart is generally used as a ground cover in frost-free areas. The photographed specimen was under a large southern oak (Quercus virginiana) and mixed with walking iris (Neomarica caerulea). Purple Heart is native to northeastern Mexico.

Purple Heart was originally named Setcreasea pallida by Joseph Nelson Rose in 1911. Rose is best known for his collaboration with Nathaniel Lord Britton, the first director of the New York Botanical Garden. Britton and Rose named numerous cacti species. Rose became the first full-time botanist for the Smithsonian Institution in 1894. He was replaced as the Assistant Curator of the National Herbarium after one year. In 1899, Rose wrote a book, Notes on Useful Plants of Mexico.

D.R. Hunt of the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew reclassified Purple Heart placing it in the genus, Tradescantia, in 1975.