This taxon first came to the attention of the author as the result of a collection of two plants from the Edwards Plateau by C. M. Rowell. Both of these plants died shortly after being transplanted, due to the long exposure they had received, but not before a few morphological notes had been taken. Later, in the spring of 1950, I encountered a small population in the Edwards Plateau of Texas between Burnet and Llano, along the roadside of State Highway 29 near Buchanan Dam. This was approximately fifty miles from the locality of the collection made by Rowell. The population consisted of 25 to 30 quite distinct plants, and on the same general site there was a much larger population of Tradescantia gigantea Rose. Although both taxa were flowering prolifically there were no plants found that indicated hybridization between the two. There appears to be little doubt that this taxon is the same material that was referred to by Anderson & Woodson (1935) as a putative hybrid between T. humilis and T. occidentalis. Both of these species are diploids in South Texas with 12 somatic chromosomes. However, in our material, plants with eglandular hairs on the sepals have not been found. It was mentioned by Anderson & Woodson that this taxon "appears difficult of solution," and they point out that B. C. Tharp feels that it seems to constitute a recognizable element of the flora, and that Anderson is inclined to agree on the basis of breeding and cytological data. However, Woodson feels that it is definitely intermediate between the two supposed parents. It seems obvious from these statements that more experimental data were needed before the problem could be solved, and this report is the result of such a study.
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Celarier, Robert P.
"A New Species of Tradescantia (Commelinaceae) from South Texas,"
Field and Laboratory: Vol. 24
Available at: https://scholar.smu.edu/fieldandlab/vol24/iss1/1