Herbs, perennial or rarely annual. Roots thin, rarely tuberous. Leaves spirally arranged or 2-ranked; blade sessile. Inflorescences terminal and/or axillary, cyme pairs (often aggregated into larger spikelike or paniclelike units), cymes sessile, umbel-like, contracted, subtended by bracts; bracts inconspicuous, less than 1 cm; spathaceous bracts absent; bracteoles persistent. Flowers bisexual (bisexual and pistillate in C. repens), radially symmetric; pedicels very short or well developed; sepals distinct, subequal; petals distinct, white or pink to rose [rarely blue], equal, not clawed; stamens 6 or 0–3, all fertile, equal; filaments glabrous or bearded; ovary 2–3-locular, ovules [1–]2 per locule, 1-seriate. Capsules 2–3-valved, 2–3-locular. Seeds [1-]2 per locule; hilum punctiform; embryotega abaxial. x = 6–8.

Distribution

se United States, tropical America, major center of distribution in Mexico.

Discussion

Species ca. 20 (7 in the flora).

Selected References

Anderson, E. and R. E. Woodson Jr. 1935. The species of Tradescantia indigenous to the United States. Contr. Arnold Arbor. 9: 1--132.

Lakela, O. 1972. Field observations of Cuthbertia (Commelinaceae) with description of a new form. Sida 5: 26--32.

Lower Taxa

Callisia cordifolia, Callisia fragrans, Callisia graminea, Callisia micrantha, Callisia ornata, Callisia repens, Callisia rosea

Key

1	Flowers white, filaments glabrous; plants creeping, or ascending and stoloniferous.	> 2
1	Flowers pink to rose, filaments bearded; plants erect to ascending, or creeping.	> 4
2	Robust, stoloniferous plants to 1 m; leaves oblong to lanceolate-oblong, 15–30 cm; flowers fragrant	Callisia fragrans
2	Weak, mat-forming plants; leaves lanceolate to ovate, 1–3.5 cm; flowers odorless.	> 3
3	Inflorescences sessile in distal leaf axils; flowers sessile or subsessile; petals inconspicuous; stamens 0–6; ovary and capsule 2-locular	Callisia repens
3	Inflorescences pedunculate; flowers distinctly pedicellate; petals conspicuous; stamens 6; ovary and capsule 3-locular	Callisia cordifolia
4	Plants creeping; leaves oblong-elliptic to lanceolate-oblong, 1–3.5 cm	Callisia micrantha
4	Plants erect to ascending; leaves linear, mainly 5–25 cm.	> 5
5	Distal leaf blades as wide as opened, flattened sheaths or wider, 0.4–1.5 cm wide	Callisia rosea
5	Distal leaf blades much narrower than opened, flattened sheaths, 0.1–0.5 mm wide.	> 6
6	Plants not cespitose or scarcely so; roots persistently woolly; bracts usually minute, scarious, 1–3(–7) mm	Callisia ornata
6	Plants cespitose; roots glabrous to sparsely puberulent; bracts often elongate, ± herbaceous, 2–14 mm	Callisia graminea