This largely Appalachian taxon is distinct and deserves further study (Small 1897, Anderson 1959; F), although doubted in most recent treatments (Sm, GC, FNA 22, W). It is reported to be typically shorter, with stems less flexuous, with leaves narrower and less broadened above the sheath, with longer distal internodes and longer distal lateral peduncles. In Ky. it is known only from low slopes along the Cumberland Rv. and its major tributaries, in thin woods just above scoured open shrubby zones (Palmer-Ball et al. 1988). Ky. plants of var. montana are largely glabrous, whereas typical subaspera has pilose lower leaf surfaces. Small (1897) noted that T. montana "is more closely related to Tradescantia pilosa [subaspera] than to any other species, but it is smaller throughout, with a straight or almost straight stem, narrower and thinner leaves and usually less pubescence" He also recognized T. comata Small, as a closely relted but distincly pubescent segregate then known only from Ga. Anderson (1959) noted: "Morphologically, this variable taxon is similar to artificial hybrids between T. subaspera var. typica and T. ohiensis. Hybridization with the latter species is still actively going on, particularly in habitats grossly disturbed by man, and two of these are reported below. T. subaspera var. montana is so variable and has so much higher a percentage of sterile pollen and cytological abnormalities than any of the other taxa reported on here, that it seems likely it is the result of introgression of T. ohiensis into T. subaspera var. typica. He found that both montana and subaspera are generally tetraploid (2n = 24).