Tradescantia virginiana L., 1753

Jarvis, Charlie, 2007, Chapter 7: Linnaean Plant Names and their Types (part T), Order out of Chaos. Linnaean Plant Types and their Types, London: Linnaean Society of London in association with the Natural History Museum, pp. 878-905 : 891

Tradescantia virginiana Linnaeus , Species Plantarum 1: 288. 1753 .

"Habitat in Virginia." RCN: 2284.

Type not designated.

Original material: [icon] in Morison, Pl. Hist. Univ. 3: 606, s. 15, t. 2, f. 4. 1699.

Generitype of Tradescantia Linnaeus.

Current name: Tradescantia virginiana L. ( Commelinaceae ).

Note: This name presents particular difficulties because the original material, 406.1 (LINN) and Herb. Burser III: 104b ( UPS), is identifiable as Tradescantia ohiensis Raf. As noted by Jarvis & al. (Regnum Veg. 127: 6. 1993), their Linnaean Generic List was conceived as a possible "Names in Current Use" (NCU) List which, if the concept had been adopted, could have allowed types listed there some protection. With this in mind, Reveal there (p. 95) designated a neotype from Virginia. However, as the NCU proposals were not adopted, this neotypification is invalid, because original material is in existence. It appears that a conservation proposal is necessary if the application of T. virginiana is not to change.