plantanarchy:

cultivating-echo replied to your post “So you got Low Light but want a houseplant?”

I love that you changed it to Wandering Dude- that’s WAY better

Yeah! I first saw someone use that alternative name in a plant tour on Youtube and I don’t want to be presumptious (I’m not Jewish) but the name Wandering name has always made me vaguely uncomfortable knowing that the folklore behind it is uhhhh… basically there’s a legend from the Middle Ages of a Jew who mocked Jesus at his crucifixion that was then cursed to wander eternally until the Second Coming.

And various Tradescantias are called “Wandering Jew” in reference to that story, most likely because they’re difficult to kill, spread everywhere if allowed to, and root very easily. It could also be in reference to Moses wandering about in the desert with the Israelites which is less sinister and I suppose you could also interpret the plant’s nature (hard to kill, roots everywhere, spreads easily) as a comment on Jewish resilience but it’s overall just…. a weird and uncomfortable name.

Let’s accelerate plant common name evolution and all call tradescantia Wandering Dude from now on. It even sounds similar so not that hard to relearn, yet it could make a huge difference, as small as it may seem.