7 Wandering Jew (Inch Plant) Benefits

Wandering Jew plants (Tradescantia zebrina) are stunning plants that are native to Central America, Mexico, and Colombia. These plants have many benefits; some are aesthetic, while others may even help your health! Let’s go through all the benefits of the Wandering Jew plant.

The Wandering Jew plant is a great plant with many benefits that include air purification abilities, some health benefits due to antioxidants contained in the plant, the plant is low-maintenance, and many more. You do need to be careful with this plant as some people are sensitive to it.

Related: 7 Plants That Look Like Wandering Jew (Inch plant)

Facts About Wandering Jew Plants

Wandering Jew plants (Tradescantia zebrina) are great to have as a part of your houseplant collection or in your garden, but there are a few things you may not know about this plant. So, let’s go through some facts before we get to the benefits of the Wandering Jew plant.

Wandering Jew plants have a fast growth rate, so they will mature within one year when grown from seed. Wandering Jews are extremely easy to care for and are perfect for beginner plant keepers.

The Wandering Jew plant (Tradescantia zebrina) is considered an inch plant as it tends to creep over the sides of the containers you plant them in, or it can take over a flower bed pretty quickly. Some other names that this plant goes by include Spiderwort and Flowering Inch Plant.

Wandering Jew plants are toxic to most pets like dogs and cats, so you should be careful with them if you have pets. There are a few people that are sensitive to the plant, so if you wish to try some benefits mentioned below, you need to have the plant processed correctly and have someone watch over you.

The Wandering Jew plant (Tradescantia zebrina) sometimes gets confused with the Purple Heart plant (Tradescantia pallida), but they’re not the same.

The 7 Benefits Of A Wandering Jew Plant

There are several benefits to Wandering Jew plants that make growing the plant somewhat worthwhile. Let’s go through the seven main benefits of Wandering Jew plants.

1. Wandering Jews Offer Great Health Benefits

When you process the Wandering Jew plant correctly, there are a few health benefits that you can receive from this plant. The Wandering Jew plant naturally contains many antioxidants, which help the body fight free radicals and inflammation.

2. Wandering Jew Plants Have Medicinal Benefits

Wandering Jew plants have been widely used in Jamaican, Malaysian, Chinese, and Mexican cultures for traditional medicinal purposes.

This plant has been used in a herbal tea mix to treat the common cold and is used to blood pressure problems and diseases like tuberculosis in these traditional practices. This is due to the Wandering Jew plant containing antibacterial properties.

Wandering Jew plants are also believed to contain antiarrhythmic properties, which help to treat abnormal heart rhythms. It is important to note that the Wandering Jew plants have not yet been tested to confirm any of these claims, but people have reported using it and seemingly being cured of their ailments.

3. Wandering Jew Plants Are Beautiful

All the major Wandering Jew plants are gorgeous and are mainly kept in homes and gardens for ornamental purposes due to their stunning looks. All variants of the Wandering Jew plant have some form of purple in their leaves that really stand out and offer a delightful pop of color to any home.

With each variant of the Wandering Jew, the intensity of the purple changes, so you should be able to find a Wandering Jew plant that suits the style of your home fairly easily. Wandering Jew plants also start flowering when they are mature. The flowers of the Wandering Jew plant are just as beautiful as the plant itself.

4. Wandering Jew Plants Are Easy To Propagate

Wandering Jew plants are stunning, so it can be disappointing to realize that they do not have a long life span. Wandering Jew plants will only live for a short two or three years, which is pretty short for a plant that is disease and pest resistant and has very few care requirements.

For Wandering Jew plant lovers, this short life span is disheartening. Thankfully, Wandering Jew plants are easy to propagate.

So, you do not need to be too sad, as you can easily grow a new plant from your current one if your current Wandering Jew is beginning to look a bit worse for wear. Propagating your Wandering Jew will not take long and will not require a lot of effort.

5. Wandering Jew Plants Help Purify The Air

All the different varieties of the Wandering Jew plant have an excellent benefit that most people do not even realize. All the Wandering Jew plants help purify the air when they are kept indoors and outdoors.

Through scientific studies at NASA, it has been found that Wandering Jews help clean the air of certain pollutants. This is why most gardeners recommend keeping your Wandering Jew plants indoors, as they will help purify the air in your household, which can help with things like allergies.

Keeping air-purifying plants in your home will not only help with allergies and asthma, but they can also help promote better sleep as the air is purer. So, keep a Wandering Jew plant in your bedroom and enjoy a better night’s sleep!

6. Wandering Jew Plants Are Low-Maintenance

Wandering Jew plants are known for being low maintenance as they are highly adaptable plants that can thrive in many different growing conditions. They can grow in medium or bright indirect sunlight, and they have a wide temperature range of between 55°F and 70 °F.

You can keep them in hanging planters, containers, window boxes, normal plant pots, or even plant them in your garden. The only things you have to do for this plant is; make sure they have well-draining soil and ensure they get watered when the first inch or two of their soil is dry to the touch.

This does mean that the Wandering Jew plant is perfect for beginners or people who do not have green thumbs as they are hardy and forgiving plants.

7. There Is A Wide Variety Of Wandering Jew Plants

The Wandering Jew plant has three main plant varieties that you can choose from, with them all boasting a different color and shape. The three main Wandering Jew plants are T.fluminensis, T.pallida, and T.zebrina.

However, these different varieties of the Wandering Jew plants are not a single collection of plants, but they are rather a species that fall under the name Tradescantia. In this plant family, there are about 75 plants that are all similar to the Wandering Jew.

So, when you want to add a Wandering Jew plant to your home, you are bound to find a Wandering Jew plant that suits your style and color palette perfectly as these three main Wandering Jew options are so diverse from each other.