Inch plant
ইঞ্চি লতা
Tradescantia zebrina Regel
- light
- Sun–part
- water
- Medium
- tall
- 19 cm
- wide
- 41 cm
Commelinaceae
Also called Zebra plant, Zebra Spiderwort, Silver inch plant, Wandering dude, Creeping Charlie
Formerly Commelina zebrina, Cyanotis zebrina
When it flowers
Flowers all year in the tropics.
Read from iNaturalist photographs of it in flower. A month counts at 50% of the best month's flowering share (smoothed over three months) and 10% of its flowering count, from at least 100 flowering observations in the band.
If a child, a pet or anyone may have eaten a plant, contact a doctor or vet straight away, or call the National Poisons Information Centre (AIIMS, New Delhi) on 1800 116 117, free and open 24 hours.
Something wrong with it?About it
- Grows as
- SubshrubKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Climate
- Seasonally dry tropicalKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Wild in
- Mexico to ColombiaKew's checklist, not yet checked
- Light
- Full sun to part shade (3 h or more)Read from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Height
- 15 cm to 23 cmRead from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension 6–9 in; RHS 0.1–0.5 m
- Spread
- 30 cm to 51 cmRead from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension 1–2 ft; RHS 0.1–0.5 m
- Water
- Average: moist, well drainedRead from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources
- Flowers
- Pink, purpleRead from NC State Extension and RHS, checked by a majority of its sourcesBacked by both sources. Sources differ: NC State Extension blue, pink, purple; RHS pink, purple
- Coldest it survives
- -0.8 °C (USDA zone 10a)Read from NC State Extension and RHS, checked: the middle of what its sources sayHalfway between its 2 sources, which differ. Sources differ: NC State Extension -6.7 °C; RHS 5 °C
Not known yet: heat, hottest it survives.
In other languages (12)
- Spanish
- matalí, Cucaracha, cola de pollo
- French
- misère
- Chinese
- 吊竹梅, 水竹草, 紅苞鴨跖草
- Portuguese
- Trapoeraba-zebra, Lambari
- Finnish
- kirjojuoru
- Chinese (China)
- 吊竹梅
- Russian
- Традесканция зебрина
- Indonesian
- Rumput Belang
- Japanese
- シマムラサキツユクサ
- Afrikaans
- Gestreepte Wandelende Jood
- Thai
- ก้ามปูหลุด
- Lithuanian
- Dryžuotoji tradeskantė
Where this comes from
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-24, CC0-1.0 (observation counts)
- Wikidata, read 2026-10-26, CC0-1.0
- Kew's checklist, read 2026-10-24, CC-BY-4.0
- NC State Extension, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- RHS, read 2026-10-25, fact, cited
- Wikimedia Commons, read 2026-10-24, CC BY-SA 3.0
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- iNaturalist, read 2026-10-25, CC BY
- 3D model: Tradescantia zebrina (built for Vanagrha) by Vanagrha, own
A fact “checked by a majority of its sources” was settled by a vote of the pages it was read from, not by a person reading it; one marked “one source” rests on that page alone. Anything else not marked checked has not been checked yet. Where nothing is known, the page says so rather than guess.