Tradescantia ohiensis (bluejacket, "Murasakitsuyukusa")

Japanese name: ムラサキツユクサ （紫露草）
Scientific name: Tradescantia ohiensis

[Overview]
An evergreen perennial 50–90 cm tall.
The stem is erect.
The leaves are simple and alternate, linear-lanceolate, 30–45 cm long, and whitish green.
The leaf base forms a tubular sheath that clasps the stem.
A cyme at the stem tip is enclosed by 2 leaf-like bracts.
The flowers are bluish purple to pale pink, with 3 petals, about 2–2.5 cm across; they open in the morning and wither in the afternoon.
There are 6 stamens, and the filaments are densely covered with purple hairs.
The fruit is a capsule.

[History]
It was introduced in the early Meiji era, and plants that have become wild can be seen along roadsides and elsewhere.
There are cultivars crossed with Omurasaki-tsuyukusa and others, and it is often confused with Omurasaki-tsuyukusa.

[Uses]
The hairs of the stamens are famous as material for observing cell division and cytoplasmic streaming.
The whole plant is used medicinally.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed or by division.
It also spreads well from self-sown seed.
It grows well in any sunny, well-drained place regardless of soil type.
It also adapts to a wide range of conditions, from sun to partial shade and from dry to moist places, and is easy to grow.
For potted plants, avoid excess moisture: in spring and autumn water thoroughly when the soil dries, and keep it on the dry side in midsummer and winter.
For plants in the ground, watering is not particularly necessary.
Too much fertilizer makes the plant leggy and prone to falling over, so none is needed for plants in the ground, and for potted plants apply only slow-release fertilizer placed on the soil once a month in spring and autumn.
Cutting back plants that have grown long and untidy after flowering restores their shape.
Southern blight can occur.

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