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Tradescantia sp. "Huasteca Canyon" (Huasteca Spiderwort) - A low growing semi-evergreen perennial to about 12 tall with thick succulent stems holding 1- to 2-inch-long leaves are arranged in two ranks with each 180 degrees across from the other to give a very interesting geometric pattern. The leaves are a dull olive to gray-green color, sometimes blushed purple but the leaves and new stems are so heavily covered with cobwebby silver-white hairs that makes the plant appear silver. In summer through fall appear the single magenta flowers with three petals that are crowded into the terminal leaf axils.
Grow in full sun in coastal areas to part sun inland though will tolerate fairly dense shade but the more sun and less water this plant gets, the more silver and compact it remains - plants in shade tend to have elongated stems that are pendulous with much greener foliage. Requires very little water in our coastal gardens but can tolerate it so long as the soil is not poorly draining. This plant should prove useful in USDA zones 7-10 and remain evergreen so long as temperatures do not go much lower than 30°F. This plant is VERY similar to Tradescantia sillamontana, a plant we have grown for many years and is very possibly another form of it. This plant was reportedly collected near the locality of Agave albopilosa in Huasteca Canyon in the Mexican state of Monterrey in Northern Mexico. This canyon is also a location where there are nice populations of the Queen Victoria Agave, Agave victoriae-reginae, while Tradescantia sillamontana is native to the mountains of Nuevo Leon in northern Mexico - see our listing of this species at Tradescantia sillamontana . The name of the genus honors the English naturalists and plant collectors John Tradescant (ca. 1570s – 1638) or possibly his son John Tradescant the Younger (1608–1662). It was at one time believed that John Tradescant the Younger first brought the Virginia Spriderwort, Tradescantia virginiana, back to England in 1637 but some contend that the timeline suggests it more likely the plant was given to John Tradescant the elder, who was a collector and traveler and the gardener to the Earl of Salisbury, and not actually collected by either Tradescants. The name for the genus was one proposed by Linnaeus.
The information displayed on this page about Tradescantia sp. "Huasteca Canyon" is based on the research we have conducted about it in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about this plant as it grows in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant have performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we have received from others and welcome hearing from anyone with information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information that will aid others to better grow it.
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