1483

 

Tradescantia spathacea Sw.

Synonym	:	Tradescantia discolor L'Hér.
Family	:	Commelinaceae
Local name	:	English- Moses-in-the cradle
Distribution	:	native to southern Mexico and Central America
Habitat	:	Tropical and subtropical forests, hilly areas
Uses	:	It is used in traditional medicine in Mexico and southeast Asia. Flowers and leaves are used in traditional medicine to treat cancer, superficial mycoses, coughs, colds, and dysentery.
Key botanical characters: Erect perennial sub-succulent herb with short stout erect stems up to 20 cm tall, often clustered and forming large colonies. Leaves imbricate, crowded, linear-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, orescences axillary;  bracts deeply boat-shaped, broadly ovate, Flowers numerous, small, white, clustered within a folded, boat shaped bract (spathe) , short-stalked from leaf axils; petals 3, white, broadly ovate, stamens 6 with hairy filaments. Fruit capsular, with a seed per locule