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Umbrella Spiderwort

Tradescantia umbraculifera

Umbrella Spiderwort is a perennial wildflower from South America, grown as a houseplant elsewhere. Give it bright light and let the soil dry between waterings to keep it compact.

Family
Commelinaceae (Spiderwort family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Bright indirect, Full sun
Water
Water when the top few centimetres of soil feel dry; reduce in winter.
Soil
Well-draining potting mix with some perlite or sand.
Temperature
18–30 °C; protect below 10 °C
How easy
Easy
Native range
SE. & S. Brazil to NE. Argentina
Climate
wet tropical

About

Tradescantia umbraculifera is a species of perennial wildflower that is native to South Eastern South America, and naturalized in New Zealand.

The scientific name umbraculifera means "carrying several umbrellas", which is a clear reference to its plentiful inflorescences per leaf axil that this species grows.

How to grow it

Many people living in areas where this species is not native keep T. umbraculifera in their homes as potted plants. Otherwise, this species can be found in the wild throughout South Eastern South America.

Other Tradescantia plants

Longbract spiderwort · Buckley's spiderwort · Waxy Spiderwort · Succulent spiderwort · Ernest's spiderwort · Small-leaf spiderwort · Giant spiderwort · Hairystem spiderwort · Hairyflower spiderwort · Texas spiderwort · Wild crocus · Wandering Jew

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Tradescantia umbraculifera by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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