Moses-in-the-cradle

Tradescantia spathacea has fleshy rhizomes and rosettes of waxy lance-shaped leaves. Leaves are dark to metallic green above, with glossy purple underneath. These will reach up to 0.30 m (1 ft) long by 76 mm (3 in) wide. They are foliage plants that reach a height of around 0.30 m (1 ft). The short-stemmed perennial shrub grows in a dense clump and forms a rosette of thick, lanceolate or linear leaves, about 30 cm long and 7 cm wide, facing upward, which are dark green above and purple below. The color of the underside is due to certain pigments, anthocyanins. Some varieties, such as 'vittata', have longitudinal yellow stripes on the upper side of the leaf. The flowers are very small, white and clustered, arise in axillary cymes enclosed in purple, boat-shaped bracts (giving their common name, Moses-in-the-Cradle). The flowers appear from spring to autumn.

It is native to Belize, Guatemala, and southern México (Chiapas, Tabasco, and the Yucatán Peninsula) and is widely cultivated as an ornamental houseplant; it has become naturalized in parts of coastal Southern California, Florida, Hawaii, Louisiana, Texas, and various Pacific and Indian Ocean islands.

They are hardy in USDA zones 9-12 and are also grown as ornamental houseplants. Its cultivar 'Sitara' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. In Mexico, it is used in traditional medicine as a medicinal plant for sores and wounds, as well as an antiseptic and anti-inflammatory.